The Changing Role of Parenting​

Changing Role of Dads in Today's Family   
For most of human history, fathers have participated significantly in their children's lives.  However, during the post war generation, 80% of children had fathers who spent the majority of time away from home, fulfilling their role as the family provider.  It was mothers who took on the social role of raising the family. 
Today's fathers are doing their best to change this with their own kids.  Most fathers are now present at their children's births, and many would trade rapid career advancement for more time with their children. With women increasingly moving into the work force, the division of labour at home, including the raising of the children, has become more evenly distributed. Many families are making flexible and family-oriented work arrangements.  The frequency with which both parents are able to participate in their children's activities increases as the household income rises. 
Children benefit greatly from having increased interaction with their fathers in the following ways:
  • Children develop better cognitive abilities when their fathers are "highly engaged" during the developmental stages of life. They receive a greater amount of tactile stimulation from their dads because fathers are more likely to physically interact with their children with 'rough and tumble' play, where mothers are more verbal and toy-mediated. Clearly, children experience not only more tactile stimulation from their fathers, but a qualitatively different kind of attention.
  • Children acquire more factual information from their fathers, while they look to their mothers for day-to-day care and emotional support. Children are likely to excel in school when their fathers are involved in their education.

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