2013 PGA Tour

[Carolina Speed]

Why isn't it ok not to be in the room? Is it feminism? How did this nonsense start? What are you going to do that the doctor can't do?

If you are on a team, you definitely should play, especially in the NFL when there are so few games.

Europe, do you have any children? I think jaxvid answered the question concerning a team sport. It's not just a matter of what you can do that the doctor can't? Here, the doctor was hardly ever present until just before the birth and sometimes a mid-wife assists in the delivery. I think it's just a matter of simply caring enough for your wife to be present and frankly I just wanted to see my children being born.

I've said it many times, my wife is my best friend! She's number 1. Not a bunch of ugly old men!

If you do have children, where were you during their birth around other men at work, a bar, football game, what? I ask you what's more feminine? Being around other men or being with your wife? As a very masculine man (served in the U.S. Marines, played football, wrestled, whatever.), I have no problem saying I'd rather be with my wife, than being around other men. Think about it.

 

[jaxvid]

Europe, do you have any children? I think jaxvid answered the question concerning a team sport. It's not just a matter of what you can do that the doctor can't? Here, the doctor was hardly ever present until just before the birth and sometimes a mid-wife assists in the delivery. I think it's just a matter of simply caring enough for your wife to be present and frankly I just wanted to see my children being born.

I've said it many times, my wife is my best friend! She's number 1. Not a bunch of ugly old men!

If you do have children, where were you during their birth around other men at work, a bar, football game, what? I ask you what's more feminine? Being around other men or being with your wife? As a very masculine man (served in the U.S. Marines, played football, wrestled, whatever.), I have no problem saying I'd rather be with my wife, than being around other men. Think about it.

The birth of a child is probably the most important thing that will happen to you in your life. Why wouldn't you want to be there to see the miracle of birth? Especially to share it with your wife and hold your newborn as soon as it arrives? When one of my kids was born there were some complications and he was taken to the ICU immediately. My wife could not go after a rough delivery and so I went to the ICU and stayed with my boy through the early hours of his life as he struggled to live. I don't know it made any difference to him to have me there at his side but it sure did to me. Had I been away and gotten a phone call about it later I would have freaked.

With another delivery my wife had a very tough time. Why should she be alone with strangers when I could be there to hold her and comfort her? I don't get the detachment that used to be popular for fathers. When you consider the importance of it to your life how could you not want to be there? I'm sure for most of human existence the father was present with the wife to see her through the important task of creating the next generation. I think it's only modern life that for a long time considered the father a mule to stay in his harness earning wages while the experts took care of his wife.

Note that I have no problem with a father that does not want to be with his wife during delivery, it's pretty gruesome, but that's just not for me.

 

[Matra2]

Do any of our non-American contributors know if this is a world wide phenomenon or strictly in the west?

About 20 or 25 years ago a British sportsman - soccer player I think - was ridiculed for missing a game to attend the birth of his child. I recall a backlash to this followed by societal shaming of men who did NOT attend such births; now it is the norm in the UK. (I was born in the UK but back in the 70s it was almost unheard of especially in ultra-conservative Northern Ireland where I don't think fathers were even allowed in the delivery room much like in some Muslim countries today). It was not the norm in Italy just two decades ago but today it is. In Poland it was rare until recently. It's just one of those societal changes like the sudden acceptance of homosexual marriage or opposition to disciplining children by spanking them. In Scandinavia most men now take paternity leave and Western societies in general encourage men to be more nurturing and less traditional in raising their children.

Judging by the comments at the link below it would seem to be a total victory in the US for this new way of thinking:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/golf--...s-door-for-brandt-snedeker-win-020101966.html

Deservedly, Mahan received plaudits from around the golf world for putting family first. Times have changed, though. Just 30 years ago, players in all sports routinely missed births. In baseball, San Francisco Giants pitcher Mike Krukow once learned of his wife’s successful birth of their child by reading it on the Candlestick Park scoreboard – while he was on the mound.
Some wondered aloud if Mahan would have had the same paternal instincts were he leading the Masters, or U.S. Open. I’d think he would. There will always be another major. There won’t always be another Zoe.

I'm not so sure. To get to the level that Mahan's playing at you need to be hyper-competitive. I don't think a guy who's never won a major would walk away from a Masters lead. Like someone else above said if he was expecting her to go into labour he should not have attended the tournament in the first place. The Canadian Open wasn't that prestigious to begin with, coming a week after a major, but now it looks like a Mickey Mouse tournament that just doesn't matter.

 

[Thrashen]

The birth of a child is probably the most important thing that will happen to you in your life. Why wouldn't you want to be there to see the miracle of birth? Especially to share it with your wife and hold your newborn as soon as it arrives? When one of my kids was born there were some complications and he was taken to the ICU immediately. My wife could not go after a rough delivery and so I went to the ICU and stayed with my boy through the early hours of his life as he struggled to live. I don't know it made any difference to him to have me there at his side but it sure did to me. Had I been away and gotten a phone call about it later I would have freaked.

With another delivery my wife had a very tough time. Why should she be alone with strangers when I could be there to hold her and comfort her? I don't get the detachment that used to be popular for fathers. When you consider the importance of it to your life how could you not want to be there? I'm sure for most of human existence the father was present with the wife to see her through the important task of creating the next generation. I think it's only modern life that for a long time considered the father a mule to stay in his harness earning wages while the experts took care of his wife.

Note that I have no problem with a father that does not want to be with his wife during delivery, it's pretty gruesome, but that's just not for me.

The guys at work make fun of me because I never use leave for anything and I always take any vacations/trips on the weekends. When my daughters were born, I wanted to be present for every moment to help in any conceivable way. My biggest worry was not being able to drive her to the hospital. Like Jax alluded to, a white woman pregnant with a white child is the most precious being on planet earth and should be handled with the utmost care. I also don’t fully understand the “father waiting outside the delivery roomâ€￾ procedure, as I’d be far too excited to wait outside of a room while the greatest moment of my life is occurring within.

Mahan took a gamble and entered the tournament knowing it was close to the due-date, but given the fact he’s a millionaire, I think he made the right choice...

CAPTION: Hunter Mahan With Wife, Kandi