Questioning Dad Culture with Professor Jordan Shapiro

Jordan Shapiro is a professor at Temple University, a senior fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. He’s also author of two books, “The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World” and his newest book, Father Figure: How to Be a Feminist Dad,” a new take on “dad-psychology” that challenges our assumptions of traditional parenting roles.

But what are traditional parenting roles anymore? How likely are we to fall into stereotypes and habits driven by our culture? These are the masks we wear like armor and they define how we relate to one another in our families and beyond.

About Jordan Shapiro, Ph.D.

Jordan Shapiro is a globally celebrated American thought leader. He's senior fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. His Forbes' column (2012-17) on global education, learning through digital play, kids and culture was read by over 5 million people around the world. He is an international speaker and consultant whose fresh perspective combines psychology, philosophy, and economics in unexpected ways. His book, The New Childhood: Raising Kids To Thrive in a Connected World (Little, Brown Spark 2018) changed the cultural conversation about parenting and screen time.

In Father Figure: How to be a Feminist Dad (Little, Brown Spark 2021), Shapiro offers a norm-shattering perspective on fatherhood, family, and gender essentialism. This thoughtful exploration of dad-psychology—presented from an archetypal perspective—challenges our familiar assumptions about the origins of so-called traditional parenting roles. There are hundreds of books on parenting, but when it comes to books about parenting identity, rather than the nuts and bolts of raising children, nearly all are about what it's like to be a mother. Father Figure fills that gap. It teaches dads how to embrace the joys of fathering while guiding toward an image of manliness for the modern world.

Learn more about Jordan Shapiro at jordanshapiro.org.

(00:00) - Welcome to How to Split a Toaster
(00:26) - Jordan Shapiro
(02:27) - Father Figure
(06:55) - Masks
(10:27) - Always Performing
(12:15) - Code Switching
(15:25) - Deals and Duty Swapping
(17:35) - Saying 'Thank You'
(18:34) - The Time It Takes
(19:04) - Roles
(21:33) - Triggers
(26:57) - Good Communication
(30:20) - Saying Yes When You Can
(35:53) - Feminist Dad
(40:04) - Wrapping Up