Captain Dad
October 23, 2011
IN a New York Times piece about the New Yorker cartoonist Pat Byrnes, James Warren offers this quote from Mr. Byrnes’ wife about the cartoonist’s role as stay-at-home dad:
“I’m thrilled that he’s as committed to raising our daughters and can find humor in it that should give other dads the inspiration to be their kids’ primary caretaker,” Ms. Madigan said when I saw her Thursday at the Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner sponsored by the Chicago Public Library and its foundation.
To the extent that she is thrilled, Ms. Madigan is an anomaly. The normal woman does not want to support her husband. She also does not want her husband to be in charge of children and home. The likelihood that Mr. Byrnes will inspire many men to become house dads is virtually nil. And if he did it would only lead to the further disenchantment of marriage. The decline of marriage parallels the decline of male authority and the male provider. There has never been a little boy in all of recorded history who dreamed of being Captain Dad with a baby carrier on his back.
Ms. Madigan is the attorney general of Illinois. She apparently has so little respect for her husband as a man that she refuses to take his name. It is fair to assume that she would not be so happy with this inversion of roles if her husband had no work at all or if he was unsuccessful.
