DEAR ABBY: As a child care provider for a local program in my hometown, I am often treated differently because I am a male.
If women can do anything men can -- including the same job -- shouldn't the opposite be true? Do you think society will ever completely accept male teachers and child care workers? -- PAUL FROM PENNSYLVANIA
DEAR PAUL: I hope so, because men are certainly capable of nurturing -- particularly those of the recent generation, who are far more involved in co-parenting than men were before the 1960s.
Male teachers and child care workers can give fatherless children something that female teachers cannot -- a male role model with whom they can identify.