Most readers of the Eduflack blog know that I am both a proud father and an author of a book about the adoption of my children and the evolution of my view on what a good dad truly means. That book, Dadprovement, was the topic of my SXSWedu speech in Austin earlier this year, and it is a big part of my writing and my thinking each and every day.

Folks are noticing this call for more engaged fathers. Exhibit One? This month’s issue of WorldClass magazine.

Yours truly is actually on the cover of the issue (yes, I realize that means it is unlikely to sell many copies). But the content of the piece is one that is particularly touching. The full article can be found here, but let me give you a taste:

Riccards emphasizes that balance in our lives brings us greater happiness and health, as individuals, and it benefits our children, as well. For example, he points to a study that shows that “in those households where daughters saw their fathers washing dishes at home, those daughters were going to be more ambitious and were going to push and achieve more in their own lives.” That kind of yin and yang between the personal and the professional is important for everyone in the family, both genders.

“We have been hearing for years now . . . that if women want to truly be a professional success, then what we need is for them to behave more like men, and they need to focus on their careers and not so much worry about the personal or worry so much about the family. At the end of the day, we are selling everybody this horrible lie,” Patrick Riccards.

Riccards explains that, too often, men become overly intimidated by the fatherhood process, “We need to recognize, we are going to make far more mistakes than we are going to get things right. What is important is that we continue to push that, continue to try. Mistakes make better fathers, make better families.”

I hope you will take a few moments and give the article a read. I promise you won’t be disappointed.