Dr. Kyle Pruett, professor of clinical psychiatry and nursing and an authority on child development who specializes in studying fatherhood and its effects on children, comes to the Y on Monday night to discuss The Nurturing Father: A Dad’s Essential Role. To set the stage, we turned to metro area “daddy bloggers” to get their quick perspective on fatherhood and the highly esteemed Laid-Off Dad answers the call.

What is the most stressful part of being a dad?
LOD: Money is always a big issue, since I’ll probably have to pay my kids’ college tuitions with a large wheelbarrow of hundreds. But I’m the father of two young boys, and I think a lot about the example I want to set for them. Their model of manhood will depend greatly on my own, and I’m working hard to figure out just what that is.

How do you balance work life and home life?
LOD: I’m lucky to have a job that affords me lots of time at home with the kids. The trade-off is that I don’t get to price the newest Jaguar XJ8s during bonus time. But I’d rather be poor and present than rich and remote.

How does your fathering style differ from your spouse? Is that an area of conflict?
LOD: When I’m alone with the kids, I like to sit on the floor and play with them. We wrestle, we build stuff, we draw, we watch NASCAR and This Old House together. My wife prefers to stay out of the way and let them play on their own. I say she’s too aloof and disinclined to engage with the kids, while she says I’m over-involved in their natural explorations. We fight about it often, mainly because she’s so grievously wrong and everything.

[The Nurturing Father: A Dad’s Essential Role: 3/5/07]