When Defector decided to get in on the market for parenting advice, there were many questions we had to consider. After all, there is no shortage of content on parenting at the moment: Oscar-winning movies about the prolonged effects of marijuana usage and guerrilla warfare on fatherhood. Oscar-winning movies on the tragedy of Elizabethan-era motherhood and surviving the prolonged effects of proximity to the bard. Video games about teaching your son to deal with trauma through the use of sick axes and Norse magic. We are littered with nepo babies and burdened by MomTok. What, possibly, could Defector offer in such an oversaturated marketplace? Perhaps a brief sampling of the sage counsel available from Defector dads in the narrows of our company Slack will quell your fears:
Ray Ratto: "You haven't been a parent until you have to decide 'college tuition or bail?'"
Chris Thompson: "parents are too compromised for uncdom"
Dave McKenna: "When you're wiping butts you just do what you gotta do."
Welcome to Minor Dilemmas, our new advice column on parenting, where members of the Dad Wing of the site, and, possibly, other parents in the greater Defector Universe, will answer your queries on how to keep your children alive, or, at minimum, make sure they do not become a complete asshole.
In each column, we'll dip into the mailbox to field questions from readers and parents in search of help, or just a simple understanding of the struggle. But what kind of questions are we qualified to answer? I'm glad you asked. No parenting question is too big or small, including:
Is potty-training covered under the definition of torture by the Geneva Conventions?
Is there any scenario where it is OK to openly critique someone else's parenting style?
How can I make my child more comfortable making friends instead of playing with imaginary ones?
My idiot son wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, how do I tell him it has sunk everyone who has bought it?
But why stop there? We will also consider queries like:
How do I find the line between good-natured teasing my kid versus straight up bullying him?
Will I still be a sex-positive parent if I tell my kid to please, for the love of all that is holy, stop masturbating in my home office?
I'm the only dad at the playground not wearing Comme Des Garcons, am I washed?
My partner wants me to engage in an online holy war against Chappell Roan and I am very tired. Please advise!
Send those questions to minordilemmas@defector.com We look forward to helping you along your parenting journey, or, at least better anticipating the questions that will arrive after your child first goes to therapy.
