A new parenting report indicates that ‘Stay At Home Dads’ are on the increase with a 80% increase in the last year alone.
The findings show that a rise in working mums has led to a role reversal with more dads staying at home than previously. More rhan 75% of those surveyed believe it is just as acceptable for men to stay at home to raise the family as it is for a woman. Men nowadays don't just play a financial role in the upbringing of their children. Responsibilities around the home are likely to be equally shared between mum and dad, with 70% of parents sharing parenting duties and 78% disciplining their children together.
“Today’s Dads want to have a much more ‘hands on’ approach’ – and that’s great for the whole family,” says Lorraine Thomas from The Parent Coaching Academy. “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."
The research also found that parents today are reassessing their priorities and placing an increasing importance on 'family-time' and the work-life balance. Going back to work is also now seen as a necessity rather than a choice, with more than 40% of mums admitting that they only return to work to earn more money.
Love is considered to be much more important than the material benefits of money and education with only 1.7% of parents surveyed believing that ‘money’ is the one thing they would give to their children.
Child psychologist, Dr Richard Woolfson says: ‘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 the value of family life more.’
July 2009
Research carried out by 'The Tesco Baby & Toddler Club' during March 2009. | 
Parenting
