Dads

While moms, without question, remain the major decision makers when it comes to household purchases, dads are becoming more involved in the process than in the past.

A 2010 Yahoo survey of 2,400 U.S. men ages 18 to 64 found that more than half identified themselves as their household’s primary grocery shopper. According to these dads:

• One-third clean and cook
• 83% bring up brands in conversations with friends
• Two in three chat about brands on social sites.

2011 research by Ipsos among 2,800 moms and dads found that dads are the major players when it comes to entertainment. The research showed that they:

• Spend 50% more time than moms with their kids online
• Are 50% more likely than moms to take the kids to a movie
• Are also more likely to take the kids to theater, sporting events or concerts

Although I come from a household where it’s dad who does most of the grocery shopping (and is the far better cook), I find some of these stats hard to credit: How dads perceive their involvement and how the women in their lives view it has historically shown a very wide gap. Far more evidence is needed before I’m convinced dads are really talking about detergent brands on social networking sites.  A recent New England Consulting Group survey of 200 men and women indicated that 70% of consumer-package-goods volume is still purchased by women.

While the numbers may be off, there is no denying that dads are in fact more involved these days in purchasing. The reasons are largely two-fold: The poor economy of recent years stranded some dads at home, where – especially if their wives are working – they are naturally assuming more day-to-day responsibilities, including shopping. The other factor is that this generation of dads is just naturally more involved in their kids’ lives – and therefore has more of a role in buying products and services for their youngsters. (An article in this Sunday’s New York Times highlighted another indicator of involvement: More men are not only joining their local school PTAs, but in many of the top-rated public schools across New York City, running them.)

Moms, when it comes to purchasing everyday household goods, who wears the pants in your family these days?

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

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.