Superdads: How Fathers Balance Work and Family in the 21st Century

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments There are so many people I would like to thank for helping me as I wrote this book. First, I must thank all the fathers who shared their stories with me. Many men met with me during their lunch hour, after work, or on their first day off in weeks, and the time they took to speak with me was time away from their families. I am so thankful that these men poured their hearts out to me, sharing personal joys and hardships of parenting and life. Thanks also to Toshiba Conner, Kristen Fortin, Don Grady, Elisa Moreno, Nannie Potts, Vivian Rogers-Cannon, Connie Scher, Aimee Symington , Larry Taylor, Verde Torrence, and several community organizations for help in recruiting fathers. A special thanks to Judith and Jay Schreider for opening their home to me to conduct many of my California interviews. I am also grateful for grant support from the American Sociological Association’s Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline, which is supported by the American Sociological Association and the National Science Foundation. This grant is intended to fund “small, groundbreaking research ” and it certainly helped me get this project started. Other funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), several Davidson College Faculty Study and Research grants, and the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge was instrumental in fostering this research. This project also benefited from my involvement with other scholars. I owe a great deal to Fran Goldscheider, who introduced me to family sociology and has inspired me for twenty years now, first as my professor and mentor and later as my colleague and friend. Through comparative research with British colleagues Clare Lyonette and Rosemary Crompton I have been better able to see the important tendencies in my American data. Work- Acknowledgments x ing with Swedish colleagues Eva Bernhardt, Livia Oláh, and Anna-Lena Almqvist has also made me want to push harder for change in American policies. I have also had the good fortune of working with my frequent collaborator and friend Hiromi Taniguchi, who pushes me in the research realm and entertains me in the personal realm. Thanks for early comments to Andrea Doucet, Linda Haas, and Margaret O’Brien. At Davidson College, thanks to Mary Muchane and Beverly Winecoff for grant support and thanks to Cheryl Branz for administrative support. I am very thankful for having such a fine departmental colleague in Gerardo Marti, who provided invaluable advice and support through the entire process . Thanks to all my undergraduate research assistants, Georgie Ahrendt, Allie Christ, Katie Hamilton, Justin Hartanov, Ryan Hubbard, Shantay Mobley , Eric Reeves, Paul Sayed, and Damion White, for help with literature searches, data transcription, and coding. A very special thanks to Damian White for reading, thinking, commenting, and talking through every detail of the book. After “super” July, I will always see you as a trusted colleague. Ilene Kalish has been a great editor, expressing interest in my book project right away and helping me to think through important issues such as the title. The reviewers provided positive and useful feedback, encouraging me to focus more on superdads. Thanks also to Aiden Amos, who helped with the very practical matters of the book publishing process. For listening to me work through all sorts of details, I am grateful to my running partner and friend Suzanne Cooper-Guasco. Thanks also to Lynda Stark, Kristie Foley, and Angela Willis. Finally, I am truly thankful for having such a great family. Hugs and kisses to Mary Ann and Victor Jung, Fred and Lori Kaufman, Robert and Frances Bell, Rick and Vee Kaufman, Kai and Suji Jung, Chris and Kindra Bell, John Bell and Hilary Spiegelman, and my adorable nieces and nephews—Aleksei, Noah, Hannah, Elliot, and Quinn. I find it difficult to describe the incredible joy of having two amazing kids, Emily and David, who make my world brighter. And never-ending thanks to my husband, Kevin Bell, who is my reader and rock, the one who has supported and nurtured me from beginning to end. As the model for “superdads,” this book simply would not be possible without you. ...