So I'm in a foul mood...

...partly because I feel awful (my stomach and I are not on speaking terms today), and partly because it occurred to me that it's been almost 2 years since I wrote to Parenting magazine about their no-dads policy.

I wrote to them, and I was told my letter would be published. It wasn't; and not long after I stopped looking, they introduced their tag, "What matters to moms."

Feh.

Being the ever-sensitive pissy sort, I decided I'd try again.

Here's what I wrote.

Hi --

I first wrote in May 2006 about the magazine's momcentric slant. At the time, I was working at home from 2-10 a.m. and watching my then-3-year-old son while my wife was at work.

I got a reply saying that my letter would be published, etc. I never saw it printed, and shortly after giving up on seeing it, I noticed the cover tag, "What matters to moms."

Way to go.

Granted, I presume there have been enough studies showing that your target demographic is moms, but the magazine has become even less inviting to any parent who has the apparent misfortune of having a penis.

I really find the magazine content informative--which is why I still read it--but it's very clear that it's not meant for me or any other father.

An occasional article from a dad in the back of the issue isn't exactly helping, either, especially when it's after yet another article from a mom about how nervous she was to let her husband watch the kids. Because as we all know, we dads think nothing of letting the kids play with chainsaws and rat poison.

Is there any plan to feature dads who are active parts of their children's lives? Or should I just stop my bellyaching and look elsewhere?

Sincerely,

Jeff Sparkman
Mountain House, California
http://siftin.blogspot.com/search/label/parenting
http://dorkdad.blogspot.com

I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Aside from my stomach doing its best impression of the underground pipe system in The Goonies.