Canadian Cribbage

Posted on September 12, 2010 by MThomas

It’s been slightly over a month since my last blog posting…not because I stopped taking care of my daughter of course. My wife and daughter and I were traveling around the northeast of North America, particularly in the Ontario and Upstate New York area.

A lot happened.

So, I’ll be spending a couple of the next posts talking about some impressions of North American attitudes toward child-raising and how it compares to what we’ve experienced here in Japan.

(The short answer is: Not too terribly different, I’m afraid.)

Continue reading →

Posted in eating, family outings, trips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Getting chores done for a song and a dance

Posted on July 25, 2010 by MThomas

After my ranting about the isolation of Japanese men from their families and the archaic attitude toward parental roles, I thought it might be nice for a little levity…

My wife and I resisted the impulse to show videos and expose our daughter to TV, but ultimately we had little choice once she became able to crawl around…and especially once she got into the “clinging stage” of never letting go of our legs. We seem to have stumbled upon the real reason for kids’ TV shows: to give parents a chance to eat breakfast and to do the household chores.

Continue reading →

Posted in entertainment, kids shows, parenting, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Men should work, women should stay home”

Posted on July 23, 2010 by MThomas

I sat outside the passport center building with my daughter in her stroller and showed both her passports. “Now you’re officially both American and Japanese,” I told her (of course, she had no idea what I was saying; she just wanted a drink of water).

An older woman, around senior citizen age, sat down on the bench beside us, smiled and waved hello at my daughter, saying “Good morning” to her. My daughter waved back.

“What’s her name?” she asked.

“…” I responded.

“Where’s her mother?” was the immediate rejoinder.

Huh?

Continue reading →

Posted in gender roles, Paternity leave, roles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments