Dads

So much for the idea that only women are programmed for parenting! A new study has found that men are biologically wired to care for their children.

Northwestern University researchers followed a large group of men in their 20s and discovered that their testosterone levels fell after they found partners and became fathers. The men studied were 22 when the study began, 26 when it was completed. While testosterone declined in all the men studied — normal, with aging — the largest declines were in married or partnered men with children, compared to men who remained single.

Among men who became fathers during the study, the drop in testosterone levels was about twice as much as among men who remained single. Men with newborns had even lower testosterone levels than those who had slightly older children. And fathers who reported caring for their children 3 or more hours a day had lower testosterone levels than fathers who were not involved in child care.

The conclusion? “It really suggests men are hard-wired to be directly caring for their kids,” said Christopher Kuzawa, study co-author. Lower testosterone levels could help dads better manage the demands of parenting and enable them to become more nurturing.

Shared parenting? Ideal as the concept may sound, a recent study found that co-parenting often leads to conflict rather than cooperation. In other words, when dad steps up to help raise the kids, mom may not approve of his approach.

Ohio State researchers studied 112 Midwestern families with 4-year-olds, then looked at the families again a year later. The study found that when dad took responsibility for certain tasks, spouses often undermined each other’s parenting skills and techniques. According to Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study, “it’s hard to break out of more traditional  gender roles…when you have two parents highly invested in care giving, there’s an opportunity to step on each other’s toes.”

Moms, what’s your take on this? Are you guilty of criticizing how the man of the house does his fathering? And how do you  solve your disagreements?

Add the economic downturn to the recent shift in traditional gender roles and what do you get?  A modern day dad worthy of your marketing dollars.

In a recent  Advertising Age article entitled “Time to Rethink Your Message: Now the Cart Belongs to Daddy,” the magazine takes a look at how the expanding role of today’s American father is shifting the way companies are marketing the consumer goods and services formerly considered “for mom only.”  Jack Neff writes:

“Through decades of media fragmentation, marketers of packaged goods and many other brands could take solace in one thing – at least they could count on their core consumers being moms and reach them through often narrowly targeted cable TV, print and digital media.  But a study by Yahoo finds that… dads in particular are taking up the shopping cart, with about six in 10 identifying themselves as their household’s decision maker on packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases.”

While the men’s perception is a tad off – the article goes on to state that “actual behavioral research of these shoppers shows a number more like 35%” – it does raise the question: what about dad?   With more men embracing additional responsibilities at home, not to mention the recent surge in the number of “stay-at-home-dads” pushing strollers around the city,  it’s no surprise that savvy companies are interested in reaching the new “modern day” dad. 

According to the article, brands such as Head & Shoulders and Huggies have already started running ads targeted specifically to men.  And online, marketing giant P&G has recently launched manofthehouse.com, an online destination for dads where they can find articles, blog posts and product news on topics ranging from “family & parenting” to “looking good” – subjects traditionally reserved for women’s magazines and mommy blogs.

At Child’s Play Communications, we’re dedicated to reaching moms with influence over the family’s purse strings.  We also have a longstanding Digital Dads program, for some of the very reasons outlined here.  

Moms, when it comes to purchasing everyday household goods, who wears the pants in your family these days?  Do you think it’s time for marketers to start paying more attention to dad?

Marketers, have you shifted your focus to include dads in your outreach?

These days, it’s not just women who are stressed by the effort to balance work and family.  Men, too, find themselves caught between what is expected at the office and at home.  According to an article by Lisa Belkin in this Sunday’s New York Times magazine,  women  now account for over half of managerial and professional jobs, 43% of  MBAs and working wives are coming close to bringing in nearly half the household income. Yet they are still responsible for the majority of child care, performing twice the housework and three times the child care that men do, even in homes where women are the primary breadwinners.

For men, meanwhile, while more is expected of them at home,  expectations have not changed on the job. As a result, the percentage of fathers in dual-income households who say they suffer work- family conflict has leaped from 35% in 1977  to  59% today. Yet even when there are flexible work policies, American men don’t use them as much as American women do.

To quote Belkin: “Can we make it ‘manly’ (or even better, ‘gender neutral’ ) to spend a day with a child, or earn less money but have more family time, or be the only parent at a parent-teacher conference because our wife has a meeting?”

She continued: “Empowering American women can no longer focus only on women…All those efforts must continue, yes. But none will succeed if we don’t change our expectations for men, or more accurately, men’ s expectations for themselves.” 

Readers, your thoughts?

Daddy Power!

Much as moms might like to think that they’ve cornered the market on blogging, especially when it comes to their kids, the fact is that dad bloggers are out in force — so much so that, more than a year ago, Child’s Play Communications launched a Digital Dads program to complement our Team Mom and Web Mom blogger networks.

As an extension of that focus, from today through Saturday Child’s Play is participating in the Modern Media Man (M3) Summit in Atlanta, a new conference designed specifically for men — especially dads — who blog.

It’s not news that moms may have a tougher time finding work if they’ve taken extended time off to raise their kids. Now, however, stay-at-home dads are feeling the pinch. To the work world, time away is just as – perhaps more – detrimental for a man than for a woman.

Just a generation ago – when my own child, CollegeBoy, was growing up — the stay-at-home dad (Mr. Mom as he was known then) was a true anomaly. Yet in 2009, a record 7.4% of fathers in married-couple families with children under 18 were home while their wives worked, according to unpublished Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article on this subject.

According to the story, stay-at-home dads “face a bigger stigma” among potential employers than stay-at-home moms. Dads who are attempting to return in the wake of the recession are feeling the impact big-time when competing for what positions exist, as it was primarily jobs held by men that were eliminated – leading to what some have labeled a “he –cession.”

How do you feel about dads leaving work to stay home with their kids? Do you feel that it’s only fair that dads take a turn – or do you feel it’s moms’ responsibility? When SHOULD it be the husband and not the wife who makes the move home? And do you think it’s acceptable for employers to think less of a man for taking time off to care for his kids – even if their logic is that as a result he is behind his peers on current industry knowledge, skills and contacts?