I've had an interesting exchange with "ridley" in the comments section to Friday's post, and his final post begs for some answers. The questions he poses are serious enough that they're worth trying to answer here.
1. "So is it that you think you can possibly spark this revolution of stay-at-home fathers? Do you hope to send all mothers out of the house, to jobs usually filled by highly qualified men?" Leaving aside the final aside, I don't think I can spark change alone via a weblog (but I'll do anything I can to help). And I do not wish to cast out all at-home mothers in terms of at-home fathers. Right now we're outnumbered 56 to 1. I don't want parity, I but I believe that a ratio that's smaller than 56 to 1 is possible. I want to make sure that families know that they have another option. I want fathers to have the same choice as mothers. Here are the stats:
40 percent of men say they'd like to be at-home fathers.
30.7 percent of all working wives outearn their husbands, 11 percent of them earning significantly more.
But one-half of one percent of dads are the at-home type, according to the (flawed) Census numbers.
I want to know what accounts for the discrepancy between the economics, the desires and the reality.
2. "WHY is this so important to you, anyway? I know you must be a father, but, really, is it truly necessary to carry on like this?" I believe that anything that expands a family's child-care options is a net good for society, and any time a viable option is disregarded or ignored, families suffer. I don't believe that every family that thinks about fathercare will come to the conclusion that it is best. Heck, most families will come to the opposite conclusions for reasons of economics or temperment. But at least some of those deep-thinking families will come to the same conclusion that MP Dunleavey does: this is a wild, socially rebellious plan, but it just might work out for us.
There has been a good deal of gnashing of teeth about whether daycare is bad or just kind of benign. Especially given concerns about other forms of care, why there hasn't been a fuller examing of the option of at-home fatherhood, given the documented benefits to everyone in the family? That's an important question to answer. And that's why I "carry on like this."
1. "So is it that you think you can possibly spark this revolution of stay-at-home fathers? Do you hope to send all mothers out of the house, to jobs usually filled by highly qualified men?" Leaving aside the final aside, I don't think I can spark change alone via a weblog (but I'll do anything I can to help). And I do not wish to cast out all at-home mothers in terms of at-home fathers. Right now we're outnumbered 56 to 1. I don't want parity, I but I believe that a ratio that's smaller than 56 to 1 is possible. I want to make sure that families know that they have another option. I want fathers to have the same choice as mothers. Here are the stats:
40 percent of men say they'd like to be at-home fathers.
30.7 percent of all working wives outearn their husbands, 11 percent of them earning significantly more.
But one-half of one percent of dads are the at-home type, according to the (flawed) Census numbers.
I want to know what accounts for the discrepancy between the economics, the desires and the reality.
2. "WHY is this so important to you, anyway? I know you must be a father, but, really, is it truly necessary to carry on like this?" I believe that anything that expands a family's child-care options is a net good for society, and any time a viable option is disregarded or ignored, families suffer. I don't believe that every family that thinks about fathercare will come to the conclusion that it is best. Heck, most families will come to the opposite conclusions for reasons of economics or temperment. But at least some of those deep-thinking families will come to the same conclusion that MP Dunleavey does: this is a wild, socially rebellious plan, but it just might work out for us.
There has been a good deal of gnashing of teeth about whether daycare is bad or just kind of benign. Especially given concerns about other forms of care, why there hasn't been a fuller examing of the option of at-home fatherhood, given the documented benefits to everyone in the family? That's an important question to answer. And that's why I "carry on like this."
posted by Rebel Dad at
7:55 PM
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