Stop Putting Dads Down- Hold Them to Higher Standards

This applies to other areas, but right now it annoys me most when I see this happening in parenting: The expectation that men won’t be good, involved, equal parents.

Some of this is people actively putting men down, insisting that they’re not capable of it. Some of this is attacking stay-at-home dads or making disparaging remarks of dads who are actively involved in their kids’ lives. Some of this is just talking about the current status quo without pointing out it needs to change. Some of this is over-the-top congratulations to men who do the bare minimum of parenting, making it clear that this is seen as an exceptional thing for men to do even though women are expected to do far more. Some of this is referring to men caring for their own kids as “babysitting”. Occasionally, I do see people pointing out that this is just gender stereotypes, that men are perfectly capable of being good, active, even primary parents- but not nearly often enough.

This isn’t some “but what about men” thing. This hurts women.

Give Dad The Baby and Go Out: The Best Parenting Decision My Partner Ever Made

When we had our first baby, I was terrified to be alone with them.

I did my best to take care of the baby, but avoided being left alone with them like the plague. I couldn’t handle even a few minutes of it.

As a father, this is what a lot of people expect. I imagine many mothers reading this rolling their eyes and pursing their lips at yet another useless dad shoving his responsibility on someone else. Tale as old as time, right?

Here’s the twist: I’m the one who had given birth to that baby.