According to a survey published by Yahoo.com, the rise in stay-at-home dads is expected to continue in 2015. And this is not just because dads can’t find work (23%), it’s because we WANT to stay home (21%) with the kids and we can do a damn good job at it too!
It’s true, check out this PEW Research Foundation report published back in June of 2014 for proof. Stay-at-home dads actually represent the biggest increase in those caring for family.
We may not be capable of breastfeeding (also a “Hot in 2015” trend), but we can handle every other aspect just as well in our own unique, fatherly way. More families see the female earning more than their male counterparts and just do better in a work environment.
I’m fortunate that this is the case in our family as Going Mom handles the work stress better than I did and I tend to handle the stay-at-home life stress better. Although it is stressful in both cases!
The very common and extremely annoying negative stereotypes of stay-at-home dads is decreasing every year, and with this survey, I’m hopeful it will continue it’s downward trend. Dads staying home only seems weird b/c it goes against what most of society has been raised to believe. Remember how smoking was “hot” (pun kind of intended) not many years ago? Yeah, that’s the power of society painting the image of how things “should be”.
As a member of several social media groups with other dads, I can proudly say at-home dads will continue to grow and we’ll snuff those negative views right in the sandbox where they belong!
The one downside to having more stay-at-home dads? A most likely increase in the number of kids telling corny jokes. Besides the jokes, dads do play an important role in a child’s development from newborn to college-bound, and that’s an extremely important role indeed!
Among the other parenting trends for 2015 is breastfeeding in public being more socially acceptable (as it should be!) and school lunch being highly debated even more than previous years. Breastfeeding and nutrition are of the utmost importance in our home and we value them dearly.
I can’t say it enough how proud and grateful I am that Going Mom is able to continue breastfeeding Avery past a year and can see our daughter’s healthfulness (and crazy energy) shining through each day.
What do you think about Yahoo’s survey? Please share your thoughts below as I’d love to hear your views.