Dads Want To Stay At Home
According to The Children’s Mutual, a leading Child Trust Fund provider, more dads are choosing to stay at home than work, with as many as one in six choosing to stop working and a quarter of all dads opting to work part-time.
This comes at a time where concerns have been expressed about an alleged worsening of the work-life balance in the UK.
Indeed, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests that the majority of working dads are not happy with their current work-life balance, with as many as two in three fathers stating that they need to spend more time caring for their children.
The report also found that more than six out of ten fathers work more than 40 hours a week.
Earlier this year, the organisation introduced proposals for a 10-year-plan, in a bid to further encourage equal rights when it comes to maternity and paternity leave.
One such proposal included an additional four months of parental leave, after the mother’s initial six months leave, which either parent could take, with at least eight weeks at 90 per-cent pay.
A spokesperson from the parenting magazine, which offers parenting advice for dads and a wealth of fathering resources, said, "It is certainly good news that we are moving forward as a society, in terms of equal rights for dads.
"It is also encouraging that more dads are choosing family life over work and bringing that element of equality into their homes.
"Fifty years ago, this type of thinking would perhaps be considered outrageous when in actual fact, it is simply a case of a parent taking responsibility. We no longer live in a world where the man has to be the main breadwinner.
"Every father wants to be able to provide for their children, whether this is through securing regular income or as the primary carer.
"The change in thought patterns, however, is encouraging, in that dads now realise that spending time with children is more important than simply only bringing in money."
Tagged in Parenting