Wednesday, June 15, 2005

The needle continues to move in the right direction. Two years ago, I got understandably excited about a careerbuilder.com survey that said 40 percent of men would consider at-home fatherhood if it could work for them financially. The folks over there have now updated the results and found there's been a nearly 20 percent jump in guys who would consider the SAHD lifestyle: 49 percent of those polled in 2005 are would-be at-home dads. A year ago, the number was at 43 percent.

Strangely, it was men 36 to 50 who were most interested in becoming at-home dads -- 53 percent said they were willing, compared to 46 percent of those 21 to 35 and 38 percent of those older than 50.

As always, there is a lot to distrust in surveys like this, but if you buy the careerbuilder.com thinking -- which has now been held constant for three years -- it is hard to conclude that at-home fatherhood as somehow not manly enough for most dads. The stereotype is fading.

For all of the general ranting done here about silly, increasingly outdated stereotypes of dads on TV (some stereotypes aren't fading), I've seen very little analysis in the press about the phenomenon. So I was a bit surprised to see this Chicago Sun-Times article on "Daddy dumbest." It's an interesting read, and the author talks to some real experts: at-home dads. I'm still a bit conflicted: I'm all for good humor (The Simpsons is certainly the best show of my lifetime), but, really, can't TV writers do better than the tired old doofus dad schtick?

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