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WORLD> America
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Dad's changing role recognized on Father's Day
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-14 15:56 PHILADELPHIA - Father's Day conjures up images of the head of a traditional two-parent family being showered with golf clubs and power tools before being taken out for brunch by his adoring family.
Identikit fathers are married to their children's mother, and are the main breadwinners. They are at work most of the time and have fewer domestic responsibilities than their wives. But not all families fit the image. Fathers are now much more likely to be single than they were a generation ago, and it's no longer unusual for fathers to stay at home with the children while mothers go to work. "Family roles are much more diverse than they've ever been," said Peter Spokes, a spokesman for Fathers.com, a Kansas City-based nonprofit that promotes parenting skills for fathers. "It's no long enough just to be a provider," Spokes said. In 2006, there were 2.5 million single fathers living with their children, up from 400,000 in 1970, and comprising 19 percent of all single parents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. About 42 percent of single fathers are divorced, 38 percent were never married and almost three-quarters had annual incomes of less than $50,000. Among the fathers who are still married, an estimated 159,000 stay at home to look after 283,000 children while their wives go out to work. About 2.9 million preschoolers, or 25 percent of the total, are regularly cared for by their father during their mother's working hours, according to federal figures. |
