Dads left holding the baby
Stay at Home Dads (SAHD) are on the rise, reveals a major new parenting report showing an 80 per cent increase on last years SAHD figures.
The findings revealed in the first Tesco Baby and Toddler Club Expectant Parent index, show the dramatic rise in working mums, now reversing roles with dad.
More than three quarters of those surveyed for the new research believe it is just as acceptable for men to stay at home to raise the family as it is for a woman.
Now, rather than being solely responsible for the financial role of bringing up their children, dad shares parenting duties with mum, and 78 per cent of parents now discipline their child together.
Tesco Baby & Toddler Club expert, and CEO of The Parent Coaching Academy, Lorraine Thomas said: “Dads used to regard mums as the experts when it came to parenting and were happy to take a back seat, but this is really changing. Today’s Dads want to have a much more ‘hands on’ approach’ – and that’s great for the whole family.”
“Dads have really strong ideas about how they want to bring up their children and are keen to share the emotional and practical challenges of parenting with their partners. Dads have always been good when it comes to talking about facts – but now they’re happy to talk about feelings too. And if they want to boost their expertise, they’re likely to do it by chatting to other dads – or finding information on the internet.”
The new parent index also found that parents are reassessing their priorities when it comes to work and promotion. The importance of family and spending time with the children is now making a swing back from the importance of spending all hours at work forging out a career and promotion.
Child psychologist and Tesco Baby & Toddler Club expert, Dr Richard Woolfson said: “Today’s parents have a much better grasp of the work/life balance than previous generations. I see parents not going for promotions, and not going back to work full time, so that they have more time to spend with their kids. They understand what it means to spend time with children. They understand the value of family life more.”