Fathers and children - interesting article
By
on
September 26th, 2005
Print This Post
Email This Post
Mouse on over to my friend Chocolate-makes-it-better for an interesting article about how much time fathers spend with their children. Turns out the Aka Pygmies are within arm’s reach of their kids 47 % of the time. I’m very proud to say that second on the list are Swedish fathers. According to the article a Swedish father now takes care of 45 % of parental childcare. I think that’s a very impressive number. Perhaps few people know what a fantastic place Sweden is for raising family. There are so many possibilities to spend time with your children without making huge sacrifices. Numbers for UK and US and obviously a lot lower. But I’m sure the major reason is financial and job related. I’m confident these fathers also would love to spend more time with their children.
If you walk around the streets of Stockholm, go to Baby-gym class, any café, or stop by the grocery store you will see fathers with their children everywhere. It’s very common that families split the duties and take turns working. Normally the women stay home the first 6-12 moths because of breastfeeding and then fathers take over. The mother goes back to work, if she works, and the fathers gets to spend time with the child. It’s a great privilege and something I have enjoyed tremendously so far.
At the bottom of the article from FathersDirect you will find a down-loadable PDF of FatherWorld magazine. There you can find some more interesting information about fathers and children. See page 5 for some more facts about being a father in Sweden. Summary, " Sweden has the most father-friendly employment policies in Europe. Every Swedish father is entitled to months or paid paternity leave - by law, mothers and fathers can take up to 12 months off between them without the risk of losing their jobs" That’s actually not quite true. You can take off a lot more time than that and you will not get fired
Also from the article, "Taking into account Sweden’s excellent state-subsidized child care from the age of one, Sweden begins to look like a paradise for dads where there is every opportunity to spend time with the kids, take on a share of the child care and have fun without the necessarily putting one’s career in danger, or being written off as someone who is not a proper man for wanting to spend time with his child". This is certainly very flattering to read.
We are world leaders when it comes to fathers spending time with our children but we can certainly do much better. The sad thing about the article is how few societies want dads to be involved with their children. From the article, " of 156 cultures studied, only 20 per cent promote men’s close relationships with infants, and only 5 per cent with young children. " That’s a quite a low number. I’m sure it would be very beneficial for both fathers and children to improve in this area. On a more positive note, "Countries all around the world are showing increased levels of actual engagement by fathers (ie time spent actually doing things with kids). "
I personally find this article very interesting. Being a half Swede currently living in Sweden I’m well aware of the fantastic pro-family atmosphere we got over here. But it’s always nice to be reminded and not take anything for granted. Being able to spending time with your kids is just such a huge privilege.
If only the US had the same attitude about family as Sweden.
Husband’s secretary is always telling me how much she admires him because he puts family first. She said this is rare — at least in the legal industry (which is why I was kind of surprised he made partner). Attorneys bill by the hour, so EVERY hour is perceived as a financial opportunity instead of family opportunity. Because our culture measures success in terms of title and wealth, many people — men especially — work hard to achieve that while ignoring their family. If only we could change our priorities.
But I am generalizing, of course. There are a lot of other great fathers in the US who sacrifice to spend time with their children. I know it because I read their blogs!
After posting this Sweden might get it’s own young family refugee crises!!
If only the rest of the world would take note of policies like this. I think here in Australia we are pretty lucky to have a laid back attitude towards things….but that is also dangourous when it comes to parenting. Alot of men (particularly in queensland - which is a bit of a redneck state here, but getting better) think that being a manly man and not showing emotion or affection is the right way to do things…..they really don’t know what they are missing out on!
The more I read….the more I am starting to think that daddy bloggers are more involved. I know the dads blogs that I read all love their kids to bits….and that is a very very promising sign.