Dear Mr. Dad: As someone who has been overweight for most of my childhood and adult life, I am concerned about my son facing the same struggle. I am someone who has felt shame while at the same time being uncomfortable talking about myself as someone with obesity – which, in medical terms, I am....Continue reading
Category: Fatherhood
The Upside and Downside to Paternity Leave
Dear Mr. Dad: My wife is due to give birth in a few months and I’m trying to work something out with my employer to take some leave after the baby is born. What’s a good amount of time to take off? A: Great question—one which, unfortunately, has no single answer that will work for everyone....Continue reading
Why Guys Need to Man Up to Flu-22
Dear Healthy Men: I’ve already had my COVID shot and two boosters, but my wife is bugging me to get a flu vaccine. I say that the COVID shots will protect me. She disagrees. Who’s right? A: In two words, she is. Many people, particularly guys, are trying to decide whether to get a flu...Continue reading
Talking to Your Stepson About His Dad
Dear Mr. Dad: My parents divorced when I was a teen, and I had a difficult relationship with my alcoholic father, which impacted my self-worth and adult relationships for years. Now, as a stepfather, I see my young-adult stepson dealing with similar issues—especially feelings of disappointment and anger—around his deceased birth father, who was also...Continue reading
Miscarriage Grief: Not For Women Only
Dear Mr. Dad: Just after our first trimester, my wife and I lost our baby. I’ve been focusing on being there for her and supporting her every way I can. But this miscarriage has hit me pretty hard too and I’m having a tough time coping. Part of the problem is that I feel guilty...Continue reading
A New Problem: Popular Male Fertility Procedure Can Lower Testosterone Levels
Testosterone has been top of mind in medicine over the last decade. And for good reason: It is now clear that testosterone in men is essential for normal growth, maturation, health, and well-being. In the brain, “vitamin T” influences sex drive, assertiveness, mood, energy, thinking and verbal memory. It increases muscle strength and maintains normal...Continue reading
Parents Play a Significant Role in Their Children’s Capacity to Regulate their Emotions
“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” – Carl Jung, Founder of Analytical Psychology, Swiss Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst Attachment to Both Parents Predict Preschool Children’s Emotional Regulation A 2021 Portuguese longitudinal study measured the...Continue reading
Prostate Cancer: A Rockier Road to Fatherhood?
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men, just behind lung cancer. While prostate cancer is a serious disease by any measure, most men diagnosed with it will survive it (98% overall 5-year survival). But in many cases, therapy for prostate cancer will be needed and surgical or radiation treatments are...Continue reading
Back to School and Fatherhood
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” – Frederick Douglass This August as kids are headed back to school, fathers and male role-models are vital in helping their children thrive in the classroom. Here are six impactful ways to play an active part at home and make back to...Continue reading
Men Can Be An Active Part of the Fertility Journey
The rate of infertility is increasing and is nearly as common in men as it is in women in the United States. About 9% of American men and 10% of American women under the age of 44 report infertility problems (CDC, 2013 and Office on Women’s Health, 2019). Despite men accounting for nearly half of...