How come when a Dad stays home with a sick child, or takes the kids to the park on Saturday, people say he’s "babysitting’? My friend gets this all the time (he’s a single parent with sole custody–long, sad story), and it really gets him mad. And women do it to him more often than other men. Women, I think it’s time we confessed–we talk about wanting men to be more involved in their children’s lives, but we don’t give them the opportunity. It takes a lot for men to buck the norm and want to be involved, and I don’t think society gives them enough support. Granted, a man’s parenting style may be different than a woman’s, maybe because of how they were raised, maybe genetically, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good. We still seem surprised at good fathering, that men even want to spend time with their kids–that doesn’t send the message that men are supposed to be involved, that they have the right and priviledge of being a parent. Women are expected to be Moms (take it from one who chose not to be, even single I get people telling me I could adopt, or have a child on my own), but men aren’t expected to be fathers. Why not?
And this in one of my first time posting a new thread, so if I put it in the wrong forum, please be gentle with me, good moderator.
Arrrrrgh! That’s not fair, I never go to the pit, and I wanted to be responsible for a good topic!! This isn’t the first time I’ve started a thread just to see it die on the vine. I brought up Robot Wars and Battlebots before anybody was interested, and I’ve ended more threads than I care to count. I’m trapped in some sort of cosmic bruhaha of parallel postings! Again–arrrrrrgh!!!
It is commonly acceted by single adult males that the best babe magnet is a baby. A man on his own in a park will remain a man on his own in a park. However, a man pushing a stroller or carrying an infant will quickly become the center of attention of females. Think of the baby as babe bate. I’m suprised that parents have to hire babysitters, for surely such babe bait must have a market value.
