Society demands greater and greater commitment from fathers, and more meaningful presence in their children’s lives.
And for the most part, the call has been answered.
Over the last 50 years, time spent by fathers doing childcare has tripled, and house work more than doubled – in fact, when combined with paid work, US fathers now spend more time (61 hours p/week) working for their families than mothers do (57 hours p/week).
But this is so rarely reflected in TV’s portrayal of fathers.
Instead we get the dumb dads, who are often dithering and incompetent clowns; who burn dinner, forget the school run and fall face first into the children’s birthday cake.
Doh!
The ‘stupid dad’ trope became so universally exploited in the UK, that the Advertising Standards Authority even had to step in, to ban ads that routinely featured men “trying and failing” to conduct “simple parental or household tasks.”
Meanwhile even a single day dedicated to celebrating dads is asking too much for some, with angry and embittered voices in the Twittersphere constantly asking ‘why should we celebrate fathers day at all?’
So are we doing a disservice to our dads?
Full Article & Study https://tinyurl.com/5avbscxh
Photos by humphrey-muleba and steven-van-loy from Unsplash
Dads https://theconversation.com/why-are-sitcom-dads-still-so-inept-139737