Dads at the playground
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Anonymous
| I am father of a 3 yr old and and my wife is expecting again. It just occured to me that I am seeing a lot more fathers at the playground and other kids events. I took my kid to a random park and it was mostly fathers for example. Not a bad thing really. I thought fathers traditionally are not as involved as mothers were. Are times changing? Or is this area specific? Or is this a fluke and there is some selection bias involved? What are your experiences? |
Anonymous
Wut? |
Anonymous
| Did you wake up from a coma sustained in 1983? |
Anonymous
| I see dads at the playground regularly at 5:00-6:00pm when I'm there. It's refreshing indeed! |
Anonymous
| PP above, I think part of it is times changing for the better, but part of it is neighborhood/demographic-dependent -- my neighborhood is very much middle class and you need two working incomes to live here. No SAHMs. So the dads may be contributing more equally. |
Anonymous
| Moms are too busy doing FB, DCUM, and whatnot |
Anonymous
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Good riddance with that old stereotype! It’s fantastic to see involved dads.
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Anonymous
| Or it’s the divorced dads taking their kids to the park when they have them under their custody agreement. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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My experience is that it varies a lot by family and time. Eg in my neighborhood Sunday afternoons I’m often the only mom at the playground. Not sure if it’s a formal meet up or just coincidence but there’s a crowd of dads out with their toddlers. I love to see it! I also know a couple families where they use fair play to break down responsibilities and the dads are in charge or exercise/activities so I almost always see them at the playground and almost never the moms. And then I know couples (usually with onlies) who prefer to travel as a unit so I always see dad and mom at the playground.
I think it’s really nice to see a diversity of caregivers at the playground as it means people can choose the options that work for them and not feel like they’re excluded or standing out too much. I also see nannies, grandparents, non-straight couples, extended families travelling as a crowd, etc. |
Anonymous
| I never see hot dads though |
Anonymous
| I'm a single mom and when I'd take my kids to our neighborhood playground on Sunday mornings, it would be all dads and me. Consistently. Every weekend. I guess Sunday mornings were when the moms had me time. When are you going? |
Anonymous
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There's a dad coaching my kid's mini kicker soccer team in the spring.
There's a mix on weekend mornings at the local playgrounds (we go to the one at our ES). |
Anonymous
| The moms are at home with the infants. The dads have been ordered to take the older kid out and not to come back until either the mom or the baby has woken up from their nap. |
Anonymous
| Then what's up with all the "I do 99% of work" posts by moms here? |