Some people say the major religion of Russia is Russian Orthodoxy. Well, it's not

"Some people say the major religion of Russia is Russian Orthodoxy. Well, it's not. It's The Draft. The Evil Draft."
Then there is the American vogue for the father to be present at birth. Many Russians find this custom strange, even barbaric. When one young Russian woman's American husband said he wanted to be with her - and perhaps videotape the delivery-her Russian girlfriends warned her that he would be traumatized by the sight and rendered incapable of looking at her as a woman. The wife finally gave in to her spouse's importunings, somewhat. He was there to hold her hand, but a curtain blocked his view of the actual birth.

MAKING IT IN MOSCOW. Alexander and Theresa (crusader against "The Evil Dralt") Yaroshevich and their son Yan.

The naming of children is also rich with issues of culture and language. Many couples have solved this problem by giving the baby a name equally at home in both languages, such as Anna, Natasha, Gregory or Alexander. Elena Drozdova-Christonikos and her American husband, Nicholas, both of whom work in the library system of the United Nations, decided that, if the baby was a boy, he would name it, and if a girl, she would decide. Thus was born Charles, or Charlik to his Russian relatives.
Once the new baby arrives, parenting issues follow closely behind. While American men show an increasing willingness to play an important part in the parenting of young children, many Russian men feel that child care is "women's work."
"So many Russian women feel that their men are absolutely incompetent in dealing with children, because they are still children themselves, hopelessly spoiled by their doting mothers," said Edward, an American who lives in the US with his Russian wife, Irina. Likewise, an American woman married to a Russian is apt to reach the same conclusion, and this can develop into an enduring source of friction. On the other hand, Russian women may have difficulty accepting their American husbands' desire to participate in child care. Alyona Makeeva, a New York-based Russian artist, recalled that when her husband, David Seacrest, fed their little daughter, Adele, and changed her diapers, her Russian girlfriends accused her of "exploiting" him and letting him take over her own job. This made her feel guilty, she said, until she learned to accept it as normal.