As of July 1st I have officially been a father for one year. As much as possible I have attempted to help my wife with the care of our daughter. Lisa Belkin's recent New York Times article made me realize that there are other families in my generation thinking about these same issues.

I personally haven't felt like I needed an audit to make sure that I am doing my share. As far as I'm concerned if both partners feel like they are doing their share, then statistics shouldn't matter.

Overall society doesn't seem to be standing in the way of my wishes, as long as I ignore all of the articles and news stories addressed to "mom". But in one major way, societies' prejudices have allowed me to shirk my responsibilities. Men's bathrooms don't have changing tables.

I am sure that my more urbane counterparts are used to a complete lack of changing tables in any restroom, but living in suburbia you come to expect a changing table. Bathroom owners seem to shy away from the extra cost of having two changing tables more often than not. I've had to walk out of the restroom several times and hand my daughter to my wife. It's unfortunate that someone else's idea of what a father should and shouldn't be doing has allowed me to be lazy. I guess I'll have to start doing double duty while we're at home until the world catches up.