Posted on 05. Mar, 2003 by Brian Reid in General
What is it about them Canadians? The National Post has again come through with another nice at-home dad piece (RD readers will remember a four-day, first person series the conservative Canadian daily ran last month). This time, we had what was close to the most complete coverage of at-home dadism I’ve seen in a long while. It was focused entirely on Canada, and it hit all of the big issues. Heather Sokoloff, who wrote the story, will be getting a nice note from me.
Some highlights: “Fathers such as Scaldwell are becoming less of a rarity. The numbers are small, but growing. In 2002, 110,700 Canadian men identified themselves as stay-at- home dads, up from 80,300 in 1997, an increase of 38%, according to Statistics Canada.” I’m still searching Statistics Canada for those particular stats, but if they exist, color me impressed. I’ll assume that the U.S. at-home dad trend more or less mirrors Canada, giving me the kind of dose of hard numbers that makes me happy.
Another bit that made me smile: “Chodura’s hockey friends look at him admiringly, and say, “Wow, I wish I could do that.” But he doesn’t buy it. “If they really wanted to do it, they would,” he says.” The dad in question is making Rebel Dad’s fundamental point: a lot of men could make the choice to stay-at-home. It ain’t economics or parenting skills that stands in the way. The big obstacle is the silly expectations of what men do, informed by years of Donna Reed episodes and laundry detergent commericals.
I’m going to keep searching for the source of the Statisics Canada numbers. If someone finds them before me, please let me know. The usual finder’s fee (beers) will apply.