Introducing: 'Dadchelor Parties'

The "dadchelor party"—in which soon-to-be new dads are taken out by the boys for a night of drinking—is officially a trend, declares the Huffington Post. (Other names: daddymoon, dadelor party, man-shower, diaper keg.) "I've been on three or four of them," says one Chicago participant. Jokes aside, Jezebel's Anna North is OK with it: "It's nice that increasingly, men seem to be taking their responsibilities as fathers seriously, and acknowledging that when the baby comes, it's not just the mother's life that's going to change," she writes. "It's good that guys are recognizing that fatherhood is serious business—even if it takes them a few beers to do it."

At Good, Nona Willis Aronowitz is all in favor of a good party, but less enthusiastic about these particular bashes. She sees dadchelor parties "as a reflection of a culture that provides absolutely no support for parents." Compared to Europe, America doesn't do much for new parents, and men realize they'll need a few drinks before the "grindstone" kicks in. "Let’s take the advent of the dadchelor party as a reminder to push for policies and cultural shifts that will make parents’ lives easier and more pleasurable," she writes. "Shouldn't we be celebrating a child’s arrival, not mourning the death of a part of ourselves?" (More fathers stories.)