Daddy day care not child’s play
changed very last five years.
“For many, becoming a stay-at-home dad is an economic decision, driven by unemployment, underemployment or disability and not a lifestyle choice to spend more time parenting,” Australian Institute of Family Studies director Anne Hollonds said. “The fathers tend to be older, with older children and they don’t tend to pick up the full domestic workload to the same extent as stay-at-home mothers.”
In stay-at-home-dad families, dads spend an average of 19 hours a week on childcare little over the while the working mothers also spend 21 hours on childcare.
The dads spend 28 hours a week on housework, while mothers spend 23 hours, which they manage to combine with an average 35-hour working week paid job.
AIFS Senior Research Fellow Dr Jennifer Baxter said the research, released as part of National Families Week, revealed stay-at-home-dads had little in common with stay-at-home mums.
Bucking the trend is father of twin boys, Dayne Grimmond. The Gold Coast stay at home dad is with his children 24/7 and carries his weight with household chores.
“The boys don’t go to childcare as I want to spend as much time as possible with them,” the helicopter pilot said. “We go out every day to the skatepark or do active things.
“I do the cooking and washing and house maintenance. I think I would do the same as most stay at home mums.
“My wife is an architect and the situation just works for all of us. The boys enjoy it when she’s home. When they start school I will get back to work.”