I cannot imagine having kids with a guy who refuses to change diapers.
I can’t imagine not changing diapers as a Dad.
I was astonished at the extent to which popular culture lied to me about diaper changing. Every TV or movie depiction of a man dealing with a baby includes him absolutely losing his goddamn mind over how difficult and gross diaper changing is. From fiction, you’d have thought that changing diapers was as difficult as gathering honey from a wasp’s nest. In reality, I adjusted to that in less than a couple of weeks.
Now the fact that babies and toddlers can get so tired that they can’t go to sleep, that was an unpleasant and unexpected revelation.
Then the kids get potty trained and it’s like the sun comes out from behind a poop cloud
Amazing what not having lead in your water can do
I think there is probably another reason for this. Yes I will say this is a good thing but I think a major reason for this is working mother’s.
During boomer’s childhood mothers stayed home and raised children.
During Gen x and melenial childhoods alot of mothers had part time jobs or jobs at the same time as schools(a lot with the schools directly like lunch ladies and bus drivers).
Now most woman have full time jobs. They can’t be full time child care and full time worker alone. As a result they are full time worker part time child care, and the father is full time worker part time child care.
This is not saying woman should not be working or that father’s don’t have a responsibility for helping raise a child. Just saying this is likely partly responsible for this shift.
I’m not so sure on some that. There is a reason Gen x was also called the latchkey generation. We pretty much had no parental support. Either because both parents worked or were single parent households.
Prior to the 70s, dual income families or single parents were the exception, not the norm. As this changed rapidly through the 70s and 80s, child care and support systems did not evolve to keep pace. As these have become the norm, society as a whole has had a chance to catch up, which could be why you see more dads stepping up. Or most likely a combination of this and what you said.
At least in my case, I am aware of how absent my father was and how it affected me, and I chose to not be that way with my kids. I’d like to think others feel the same way.
I’m a father of a toddler and work from home. I literally can’t imagine having to be gone a work all day and missing all the little moments.
With my first I worked nights, so I was always in or around the house when my little girl was awake, even if I was asleep upstairs.
With my youngest, that changed. I’m working a 45 hour job now, 20 miles away from home. It’s ridiculous how… apart I feel from the little guy. Those little moments I got to enjoy with my daughter just haven’t happened with my son and I know it’s going to be something I regret when I’m older.
Still…bills gotta be paid I guess.
