When it comes to parenting and fathers, the conversation only ever seems to say one thing: ‘fathers need to do more’. More to support mothers. More to care for kids. More help around the home. More school runs. More lunch boxes. More changing dirty diapers. I am sympathetic and mostly supportive of such calls, and am happy to see so many fathers answering it so brilliantly. Here are some stats – Modern dads now do four times more childcare than they did sixty years ago. In fact, back then a massive 43% of dads had never changed a diaper… that figure today? 4%. Of course the journey isn’t over, and more is to be done by dads, but I have never understood why, within this conversation of ‘equal responsibility’, nobody has ever talked about giving dads ‘equal rights’? For rights and responsibly are two sides of the same dutiful coin, and you simply cannot have one without having the other. And let’s be clear on that, for you will not hear a peep about it from our noble gender equality advocates – fathers still do not have equal legal rights to mothers. Dads are still treated as second class parents, mocked as deadbeats, treated as predators in playgrounds, and described as ‘babysitters’ by society at large. I do not see any semblance of ‘equal rights’, or even ‘equal respect’, but only ever hear a cacophony of calls for ‘equal responsibility’. Why is that? Well, I think I know… the idea of mothers lessening their legal power over fathers is not something many are going to give away willingly. In fact, it’s not even something most mothers are aware of, nor fathers, unless they find themselves starkly reminded by the chopping block of Family Courts. So are we going to award fathers equal rights, alongside our demands for equal responsibility? Are we going to pay them equal respect? And are mothers willing to share the legal privileges they already enjoy, if we are going to get us there? What do you think? ~ Shared parenting laws, by state American Time Use Survey  Images by Sir Manuel, Kelli McClintock, Lance Asper, Toa Hettiba. #fathersrights #dadsofinstagram #dadlife #fatherslove

2024-03-25