Dads Are the New Moms. How’s That Going?

It is summer 2025 and the dads are talking. The dads are talking, in fact, more than I expected. They are opening up, tearing up, reaching for tissues, telling me how hard it’s been. They are laughing at themselves, affecting embarrassment, turning away briefly to blow their noses, but pressing on through their discomfort. On a playground in New York City on a beautiful June morning, they tell me about their loneliness. On calls from their man caves and home offices, they tell me about the grueling early months. In coffee shops for a stolen hour, a stolen half hour, they tell me about the postpartum mood disorders that brought them to their knees, the loss of romance in their relationships, the loss of sex. It’s important to talk about this stuff, they say.