An open letter to CNN Living regarding “The New Playdate Playbook” by Deborah Skolnik.
Dear CNN Living,
Though I am not a father myself, I am a person who feels that the role of “father” in our society deserves respect. I am also a person who supports tolerance and acceptance for all people, regardless of their gender, nationality, or religion. For these two reasons, I am deeply disturbed at the following passage from the article referenced above:
The Sitch: You’ve accepted a sleepover invite for your daughter, not realizing that only her pal’s divorced dad will be home. You’re not OK with it. What to do?
The Solution: “Call and say ‘I’m sorry, and this is about me and not you, but I just don’t feel comfortable with a man supervising an overnighter,’ ” says Paone. Offer to host the girls at your place instead, if you can, or ask to turn the sleepover into a “late-over,” where your daughter stays only till bedtime. In the future, always ask who’ll be on duty before you say yes to a sleepover.
So, here’s “The Sitch” – This article coldly slaps “divorced dads,” fathers, and men in general as assumed child molesters. I honestly wonder if you would publish an article that stated the above but instead of men, referenced a particular race or nationality:
“You’ve accepted a sleepover invite, not realizing that only her pal’s (racial minority) will be home…”
“‘I’m sorry, and this is about me, but I just don’t feel comfortable with a (religious minority) supervising an overnighter…”
If that wasn’t enough, statistics on child abuse show that 1. more women than men abuse children (see summary) and 2. female sexual predators are a real problem that is essentially ignored.
Fathers in general, and especially divorced fathers, get a lot of grief. They are not treated fairly in family court or in the court of public opinion. Suffice to say, it does not help when CNN Living casually labels them all child molesters.
My suggestion for “The Solution” – At the very least, I believe that CNN should publish a sincere apology to divorced fathers, fathers, and men in general. But perhaps CNN Living should also consider doing a story on the reality of female child abusers, or the struggles that dedicated “divorced dads” face. Better yet, why not do both?
Thank you for your kind attention.
–Mark Trueblood CNN Owes Fathers An Apology
About Tom Matlack
Let us be honest here. Nothing will change because good people will do noithing. Here we are discussing what isn’t right, for some people they say fathers are needed but yet what is being done about it? Fathers have a bad rap because of biases that society has allowed. Laws, statues, rights are broken all in the sake of sexual discrimination where the father’s Equal Protection Rights are squashed. I have tried to fight a fight to get people to say that fathers are needed but yet I have no base, I have no one willing to fight, just people who say what has been said here. Do we write our Congressman, State Reps, news media, when will we protest for Mens Rights, for the right to be a father unconditionally?
I lost my Shared Parenting due to service in the military, after being in since 2005 I loose when I take the mother to court for contempt of Ohio law, kidnapping etc and I loose custody due to service. Do you really think CNN will apologize? We are men that aren’t protected or valued. How bad are things, the family court system here didn’t even care about the Ohio House Bill 121 which is supposed to protect service members.
So when some of you are tired of bitching behind closed doors where nothing will be solved and ready to make a statement, start a movement send me a email j.appleseed.34@gmail.com.