Social Diminishment of a Father's Role ? Motherhood Looms ...

I?m not sure how others feel about this, but I firmly believe that a father?s role is crucial.? In our family in particular, I?d be lost without my husband fulfilling the father?s role the best that he possibly can.? In some ways, I suspect that he?d be a better stay at home dad than I am a stay at home mom.

This is why I tend to get irritated with images in media that depict fathers as bumbling idiots.? It diminishes their value to the family unit.? I mean, honestly, I have children already.? I don?t need a husband that I must infantilize because I cannot count on him to be successful in a father?s role.? There are some memes on Facebook lately that have just made me absolutely livid.? (Okay, some have merely irritated me, but still.)

Maybe I?m grumpy and I have no sense of humor, but this one annoys me because it implies that Dad cares more about his own comfort than meeting his child?s needs.? I?ve watched my husband get up at night with our babies and pace the floor with them when they were difficult to soothe. ?I?ve seen him step on building blocks, be covered in baby barf, and come home from work early when I had to take a sick child to the doctor.? Those things hardly speak to a man who cares more about his own comforts than satisfying the needs of his child. ?I don?t actually know any dads that will cheerfully read the newspaper and ignore the screaming baby beside them.

It?s that whole gender stereotyping thing again.? Moms are the tender, loving nurturers? and Dads are big goofs.? It turns out that I?m actually the one who is more inclined to make goofy faces by mashing my kid?s face into funky shapes.? I?m also just as prone as my husband is to toss them around, particularly my toddler.? None of us toss Eudora around; she?s just so tiny that it doesn?t seem like a bright idea.

Once again, we?re seeing men as fools who are incapable of doing basic things like making sure their babies are fed properly.? My husband?? He?s a fastidious label reader, especially if it concerns something that our children will eat.? He?s amazing about getting the right things for our babies.? He knows that if I do give our children baby food from a jar, it needs to be organic without filler ingredients.? When Norton rejected a jar of baby food we tried once ages ago, the husband was the first one to try it and the one to toss it.? Incidentally, he was feeding Norton at that time.? He?s also helped with making baby food, or just plain made it.

If this same picture showed a bunch of women standing around in the hardware store or the parts store, there would be thousands screaming that this isn?t funny; it?s sexist behavior at its finest.? Why aren?t we protesting the treatment of our men?

I don?t see the need to diminish the importance of fathers in the home.? I think that the involved father should be celebrated, not made out to be something as rare as a Yeti.

What do these images of fathers say to you?

Related posts:

1. An Involved Father Doesn?t Baby-Sit
2. Social Networking and Not Caring About Klout

Source: http://motherhoodlooms.com/2012/10/social-diminishment-of-a-fathers-role/

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