Men Can Take Care Of Children

This is insulting.

The Enterprise – Those enlisted will be expected to walk with up to 40 pounds on their back, listen intently to screaming voices with urgent commands, respond calmly in seconds, clean the mess hall, get up at 4 a.m. and walk, and sometimes crawl.
This may sound like the boot camp where uniforms are donned, bunks are pulled tight, and quarters are bounced for the sheer enjoyment of the drill sergeant.
But this not your soldier’s boot camp. This is “Boot Camp for New Dads.”
The program, started on the West Coast, is entering its 15th year educating future, expectant or new fathers about all facets of becoming a dad.
And as social issues evolved, Boot Camp for New Dads has expanded over the years to where it now includes such topics as shaken baby syndrome and post-partum depression. It also is being presented in different languages and reaching dads from a variety of backgrounds.
“We have teenage dads, to guys in their 50s having their first child, and mentally challenged expectant fathers to CEOs,” said Steve Dubin of Kingston, national public relations director for the program.
South Shore Hospital in Weymouth offers the program on the first Saturday of the month, holidays excluded. There, the “drool sergeants,” as they are called, lead a three-hour morning workshop, where they provide more information on parenting babies than most dads of earlier generations ever dreamed of knowing.

Do we really need to perpetuate this stereotype? That men are inherently worthless when it comes to caring for children? I know more than a few first-time moms who are pretty clueless when it comes to caring for their children.
I’ll not deny that women may have certain instincts for motherhood that are not present in men, but to assume that men need a class to teach them how to care for their children is just plain silly.