Smalltalk Autumn 2015 | Page 21

Worcester and Droitwich Branch Most men can see the fundamental fairness of sharing childcare and wage-earning work equally, but all the stats show that something stops most of us from backing up our enlightened ideas with actions. There are financial pressures prodding us in the direction of the workplace of course, but let‟s not pretend there isn‟t a residual fear about losing the personal status of the breadwinner at play here as well. When it comes to it the values of our father‟s generation are still quite strong: in Hanna Rosin‟s The End of Men, a father talks about dads he sees in playgrounds on weekdays as he travels between meetings: “I like it that that guy is out there but I don’t want to be him.” However, being with a fairly modern woman, I found that once I parked my career, forgot about earning much money and got knee-deep in nappies for a while I actually got more not less respect in my house (despite the odd jibe about being a kept man from my male friends). Spending 8-10 hours a day with a baby helped me in ways I wasn‟t expecting too. For a start, it forced me to slow down and gave me time to think. I was quite fortunate to have a relaxed baby but I also found that if you don‟t pack your schedule too much (and I would strongly recommend that you don‟t) you can involve your child in your routine in a way that helps their development and reduces the stress that rushing them from class to class can cause the anxious parent. Worcester and D