Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh | Blogging NYT: Involved Dads

Blogging NYT: Involved Dads

Recently, a NY Times article highlighted the increased number of baby care products introduced into the market that were invented by fathers. Products like the Itzbeen Timer and the Water Bottle Nipple Adaptor were among the mentions.

The article suggested that this retail trend is due in large part to modern dads being more involved in childrearing. According to a study conducted in 2002, Gen X dads (those age 23 to 37) spent significantly more workday time parenting than Boomer fathers did. Compare 3.4 hours to 2.2 hours per day. The study also predicted that Gen Y dads will continue to be more involved than the generations of dads before them.

Putting the retail point aside, we have seen, at least anecdotally, increased dad involvement. In our neighborhood, we see early Saturday morning dads having lattes while carrying and pushing and chasing babies. We see after work dads picking up kids from daycare heading towards the metro. And we see it in our own household.

How about AT: Nursery readers - is dad more involved than your own dad was?

Comments (8)

We have a full-time "stay-at-home" Dad in our house, so absolutely. (Though we were warned early on by a veteran full-time parent that key to "staying-at-home" is not to... stay at home!)

posted by MamaChilanga on August 27th 2007 at 5:38am
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Yes! My husband is also a partial stay at home dad (he works some evenings) and is super involved with our 3 month old son. He's even a fan of babywearing, something I could never see my own Dad doing!

John "wearing" Dash

Colleen

posted by auburn2001grad on August 27th 2007 at 6:22am
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BTW: When my brother was born in Manhattan in 1971, there was only one (ONE!) hospital in all of Manhattan that would allow men in the delivery room for the birth of their children!

posted by MamaChilanga on August 27th 2007 at 7:03am
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My husband also is a partial stay at home dad. He works Monday, Tue, Thur, Sat-Sunday, while I work Mon-Friday.We have a neighborhood lady look after our son Wed and Thursday. I have to say that I'm a bit jealous about the close relationship our son has with his dad. But I'm really happy that they do have such a bond.

posted by Kerstin on August 27th 2007 at 8:26am
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i'm happy to say that for all of august my husband got to stay home on paternity leave and bond with our daughter since i went back to work. it's been really great for him to get to know her and understand her routine that i set up for her in the earlier months. eventually, yes, he'll have to go back to work, but he's always been an involved parent and i think that what makes it all the more enjoyable for us. i know this is not typical though. i happen to know of a dad that, until recently when his wife went out of town, had never been woken up during the night by his infant son. the father slept in his own room so that he wouldn't have to deal with night feedings and wakings.

posted by gleek on August 27th 2007 at 8:50am
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Way more here, too. Definitely.

posted by Smellyann on August 27th 2007 at 12:08pm
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Colleen--what a cute little Red Sox fan! My husband and I were just discussing the best age to introduce our son (due in Nov) to Fenway--looks like yours took to it right away!

posted by Rebecca_South on August 27th 2007 at 12:30pm
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Oh heck yeah. Shortly after our daughter was born, I went back to school in the evenings so my husband fed her, bathed her and put her to bed. When he joined the Army, he had to show me all his tricks because he jealously guarded that time and I rarely if ever bathed her or put her to bed. I also had a c-section so he did a lot of care of her when I was stuck on the couch. They are extremely close and its killing him to be away from her for so long while he's deployed.

posted by tgray99 on August 27th 2007 at 5:09pm
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