More on Making Sure Dads Get Counted

Posted on 16. Apr, 2007 by rebel in General

It’s nice to the see that the dismay over the government’s dads-are-really-just-a-form-of-child-care argument has gotten an airing above and beyond blogging rants: the Lexington Herald-Leader ran this nice column on why dads should be counted. It also included a study that I don’t think I saw:

A 2005 Gannon University study, for example, found that the most popular child-rearing books used mother twice as often as father when referring to parenting in general. According to the study, even when the authors used gender-neutral language, it was usually clear that they were speaking to mothers. Why else would they suggest parental stress-management techniques that included “getting one’s nails done” and “talking with a girlfriend”?

That’s enough to get my good and fuming on a Monday morning.

(Thanks to Kelly for the link.)

4 Responses to “More on Making Sure Dads Get Counted”

  1. dayv

    16. Apr, 2007

    Yeah, I think that would be a problem, and probably cause more stress, if I were talking to a girlfriend….and my wife found out.

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  2. Jeff

    17. Apr, 2007

    We just took our daughter to a new sibling class at the hospital where we will deliver #2 and all the material, video, discussion, etc was focused on helping mommy get diapers, helping mommy by being a good listener, helping out mommy by not leaving small toys laying around and on and on. I spent the whole class thinking (as did my wife, to her credit) where is the freaking dad in all of this? I am the one who cleans the house, changes a fair amount of diapers and, you know, plays a role in the family. The dads did not get ONE single mention. Nice, just a sperm donor I guess.

    Gender Bias, on kids and parents, is so evident if people open their eyes to it. Seems most people do not care or think about the subtle, yet subversive, consequences.

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  3. Rebel Dad

    17. Apr, 2007

    Jeff — Thanks for the comment. I have never understood why more wasn’t done with the new-parent classes at hospitals … here, you have this great, captive audience of dads … and then it gets squandered with the kind of stuff you mentioned.

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  4. Peter Hoh

    22. Apr, 2007

    Hey, I always find that a chat with my girlfriend helps ease my parenting stress. What’s wrong with that?

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