Dads are not stupid

OYMWA · August 5, 2014, 6:56pm

Re: Dads are not stupid

@aahmed
hate to be the voice of dissent here but unfortunate in USA fathers are portrayed negatively because they are altogether missing or emotionally absent for a large part of pediatric population.
You and every dad on GS who is involved are a part of a minority.

*“According to 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data, over 24 million children live apart from their biological fathers. That is 1 out of every 3 (33%) children in America. Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) African American children live in father-absent homes. One in three (34%) Hispanic children, and 1 in 4 (25%) white children live in father-absent homes. In 1960, only 11% of children lived in father-absent homes. *”

quoted out of the following sites: Factsheet ,
FACTS ON ABSENT FATHERS | Fathers Incorporated,
Father Absence Statistics

and these are sites that are just describing missing fathers. there are fathers, that may be part of a childs life technically but emotionally absent.
my personal experience (and thus anecdotal) in working with the public (middle to upper middle class and well off population) has been similar. I see very very few fathers showing up in the ER with injured or sick kids. vast majority are brought in by moms who often leave in the middle of a workday or come straight after work. these working moms, along with the stay at home moms know every single detail of their kids life right off the top of their head. what the kid ate, how many bites, when they pooped, color, character consistency, smell of poop. who they played with, how long, which toys, last sneeze, last cough, last fever, last pee, last illness … its frankly astounding the degree of details that moms keep track of for their child(ren).
Fathers when they rarely bring in the child … honestly … have no clue. they can never tell me how how high the fever was or when it started or when the kid was medicated … what they ate if they ate or vomitted and what the vomit looked like … a million little details that i ask for. heck they dont even know if the kid is immunized, or even their own pediatricians name. They usually have to get on the phone to ask the mom (who usually isnt there cuz of other kids at home). Perhaps not knowing these details doesnt make a father a bad one necessarily but in my opinion it does make them an uninvolved one. There is more to being an involved father then playing with the kid, giving an occasional bath or changing the diaper once in a while (which is the extent of most fathers involvement in child rearing).

I don’t really see any relevance of the census bureau data to the commercials that OP complaining about. Clearly in the commercials the dads are present and involved, and yet they are made fun of.

As for your personal experience, you have a point there. I would say it is more because of the gender roles than anything else. Even in the western society, working moms are expected to take care of home and kids.