Does anyone ever think why only women are interested in parenting sites? I mean, men are also parents. Why don't they chat about it, think about it, etc?
OP: Yes I have thought about this a lot. Why are there so few fathers at PA meetings? Why are dads not generally leading (or even involved in) school fundraising? Overseeing homework? My DH couldn't name one of my kids' teachers if his life depended on it. At assemblies and school events, it's at least 80 percent mothers, and sometimes there are more grandmothers than dads. Why? I have a demanding full-time job, and yet I manage to take an interest in my children's development, social lives, education. I missed work to go on high school tours, again mostly attended by moms with their kids. It's very mysterious to me.
@BrooklynMom I read an interesting article awhile back about a couple who tried to split each task 50/50 (as opposed to allocating tasks, under this model each task is shared). It created a lot of inefficiencies. In our dynamic, I have similarly found it easier to assign "ownership" of tasks to each spouse. If we had to share a task, there would be a lot of time spent communicating between each other what each knows and each has to do. If we just own a task, we know what needs to be done for that task. It's just not worth our collective brain space for us each to know all the details about school, etc.
@Anonymous Fair enough, but that assumes (a) an equal division of tasks, done in a deliberate way, and (b) the equal value of those tasks. Is attending parent-teacher conferences the same value as, say, getting the oil changed on the car? I don't think so. But because parenting is associated with women, it's devalued.
My DH reads it, but doesn't comment/have an account.
I am!
Okay, we have one!
Does anyone ever think why only women are interested in parenting sites? I mean, men are also parents. Why don't they chat about it, think about it, etc?
OP: Yes I have thought about this a lot. Why are there so few fathers at PA meetings? Why are dads not generally leading (or even involved in) school fundraising? Overseeing homework? My DH couldn't name one of my kids' teachers if his life depended on it. At assemblies and school events, it's at least 80 percent mothers, and sometimes there are more grandmothers than dads. Why? I have a demanding full-time job, and yet I manage to take an interest in my children's development, social lives, education. I missed work to go on high school tours, again mostly attended by moms with their kids. It's very mysterious to me.
@BrooklynMom I read an interesting article awhile back about a couple who tried to split each task 50/50 (as opposed to allocating tasks, under this model each task is shared). It created a lot of inefficiencies. In our dynamic, I have similarly found it easier to assign "ownership" of tasks to each spouse. If we had to share a task, there would be a lot of time spent communicating between each other what each knows and each has to do. If we just own a task, we know what needs to be done for that task. It's just not worth our collective brain space for us each to know all the details about school, etc.
@Anonymous Fair enough, but that assumes (a) an equal division of tasks, done in a deliberate way, and (b) the equal value of those tasks. Is attending parent-teacher conferences the same value as, say, getting the oil changed on the car? I don't think so. But because parenting is associated with women, it's devalued.