Call for Writers: Childhood, Fatherhood and Play

Good fathers tend to make for good men, and good men tend to make for good fathers. We know this.

And now men are staking what may be an unprecedentedly active role in raising their children. More men are staying home with their children, sharing more parenting responsibilities, rethinking their conventional roles in their children’s lives, and generally doing a lot more than they used to be willing to do. That should mean that somewhere out there is a group men ready and willing to talk about the waxing era of new fatherhood.

Yet with only a few exceptions (notably this one), male voices in the growing dialogue about modern parenthood have been rather quiet. And where they do raise up, they often do so in all-male seclusion.

There’s no good reason that dad writers and mom writers can’t play nice together. And Megan Rosker knows that.

You all may remember reading some of Megan’s stellar pieces here on Good Men Project. But she also runs her own website, Let Children Play, dedicated to the advocacy of imaginative and free play in the development of children. Meg recently completed a restructuring and refocusing of the website and informally relaunched this month. Let Children Playnow features a new look, new staff (including me!), and most importantly, new voices.

Feedback has thus far been strong, but Let Children Play is not a website that will ever be satisfied. You see, Meg has positioned her site as a uniquely accessible microphone for parents and play advocates all over the world. Anyone can register and start writing. And that’s huge.

That’s why I’m writing to you. Let Children Play is committed to the dissemination of as many voices as it can get, and we want to add some male voices to that chorus. We have a few men in the mix, but we want more, and I don’t know if there’s a better place to find them than here at GMP. So I’m calling not only on all fathers, but all sons as well: register today on Let Children Play, write anything about childhood, play, or parenting that inspires you, in any tone or style that compels you, and submit your work for review. Registration only takes a few minutes. And once published, your words will be sent out to thousands of people across the world.

Let Children Play combines the democratic spirit of new online media with the guiding hands that keep some of the best journals and magazines functioning at high levels of quality. I’m so proud to be a part of the team, and I sincerely hope you’ll consider joining us.