INVOLVEMENT OF FATHERS’S IN PARENTING SURVEY
FATHER’S INVOLVEMENT IN EVERYDAY PARENTING – SURVEY BY PODAR INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION – 2017
Good news for children’s day, fathers who were till date quite invisible when it came to involvement in parenting are now more involved and active when it comes to everyday parenting of their children. They are now aware of which school the child attends, or which class and even attend their open house and events.
A common complain of mothers is that fathers are not involved in every day parenting and that they have to bear the full burden of parenting. Fathers are just as essential to healthy child development as mothers. Psychology Today explained, “Fatherhood turns out to be a complex and unique phenomenon with huge consequences for the emotional and intellectual growth of children.”
Erik Erikson, a pioneer in the world of child psychology, asserts that a father’s love and a mother’s love are qualitatively different. Fathers “love more dangerously” because their love is more “expectant, more instrumental” than a mother’s love. A father brings unique contributions to the job of parenting a child that no one else can replicate. Following are some of the most compelling ways that a father’s involvement makes a positive difference in a child’s life.
By 18 months babies can tell the difference between mothers and fathers interaction with them. Both mothers and fathers parent differently. This diversity, in itself, provides children with a broader, richer experience of contrasting relational interactions. Whether they realize it or not, children are learning, by sheer experience, that men and women are different and have different ways of dealing with life, other adults and children. This understanding is critical for their development.
This survey was conducted in Mumbai with 4800 fathers to understand if every day involvement in parenting by fathers has improved over the years or not.
Good news for children that it has but there is still some scope of improvement by dads in giving time, learning to discipline their children and helping children with school work. Many fathers are not so involved in helping around the house or in household chores and most fathers are not happy with the amount of time they are able to spend with their kids, they feel they should be spending more time.
Dr. Swati Popat Vats President Podar Education Network and Early Childhood Association feels that these results are a good sign that children today are benefitting by equal involvement by both parents and this will be good for the overall emotional development and emotional intelligence in children. There will be less tendency towards depression, suicidal tendencies as children who have a strong bond with not one by two parents will grow up to be more resilient. Both relationships remain psychologically important even when there are disparities in the two parents’ levels of participation in child care.
Some results are as follows-
- 70% fathers are now making a conscious effort to reduce their travel for work.
- 65% fathers spend 2 or more hours everyday with their children .
- only 33% spend time doing household chores or reading to their children, most dads still spend time playing on technology or watching television.
- 88% fathers need the wife around when they take children out and only 12% are confident to go out alone with their children.
- 62% read to their children
- 52% play outdoors with their children
- 68% are aware of their child’s daily routine
- 75% are feel guilty of not spending time with their children
- 34% have attended all open houses
- 50% have attended all events in school
- disciplining , saying no and spending time with kids are still an issue with most fathers
- 61% feel that they do not practice guilt parenting
- 59% feel that their wives are happy with their everyday involvement in parenting
- How often do you travel out of town in a month for work?
| Every week | Every 15 days | Every alternate day | Once a month | Never |
| 9% | 21% | 18% | 58% | 12% |
- How many hours/minutes every day do you spend with your child/children?
| 10 minutes | 30 minutes | One hour | Two hours | More than two hours |
| 3% | 6% | 26% | 52% | 13% |
- How many hours/minutes do you spend with your child/children on Sunday and holidays?
| Full day | One hour | Two hours | Less than one hour | More than two hours but not full day |
| 4% | 32% | 36% | 14% | 14% |
- How do you spend this time with your child/children when you are at home?
| Doing homework and projects with them | Watching television | Playing games | Doing household chores or cooking | Sitting and reading to them |
| 16% | 32% | 30% | 11% | 12% |
- How do you spend this time with your child/children when you take them out?
| Watching movies | Shopping | Playing games | Doing what they like | Taking them out for dinner/lunch |
| 12% | 26% | 20% | 20% | 22% |
- How often do you go out with your child/children?
| Every day | Once a week | Once a month | Not fixed | Never |
| 18% | 28% | 30% | 22% | 2% |
- Do you go out alone or with your wife and family?
| With wife and kids | With wife kids and family | With kids alone |
| 60% | 28% | 12% |
- Do you read to your child/children?
| Yes | No |
| 62% | 38% |
- Do you play any outdoor games with your child/children?
| Yes | No |
| 52% | 48% |
- Do you think your child/children are picking up any unhealthy habits from you?
| Yes | No |
| 32% | 68% |
- Are you aware of your child’s/children’s daily routine?
| Yes | No |
| 68% | 32% |
- As a father what do you think are your best at?
| Sharing responsibility with your wife | Helping in household chores | Helping with the children | Teaching the children and helping them with homework | Disciplining |
| 37% | 8% | 15% | 16% | 24% |
- As a father what are you guilty about not giving your child?
| Money / things | Time | Good habits |
| 12% | 75% | 13% |
- When at home how many hours are you without any kind of contact with technology?(mobile phone, computers, television, ipad, etc)
| One hour | Less than one hour | More than one hour |
| 15% | 30% | 55% |
- How many school events of your child/children have you attended in this year?
| None | All | Some |
| 12% | 50% | 38% |
- How many open houses in school have you attended in this year ?
| None | All | Some |
| 20% | 34% | 46% |
- What do you find most difficult about your role as a father?
| Disciplining | Helping them with homework | Spending time with them | Giving equal time to both your wife and kids | Saying no to them when required |
| 22% | 18% | 24% | 15% | 21% |
- Do you think you practice guilt parenting?
| Yes | No |
| 39% | 61% |
- How happy do you think your wife is with your involvement in parenting?
| Very happy | Not so happy | Not happy at all | Happy sometimes |
| 59% | 7% | 12% | 22% |
- What household chores do you jointly participate in or have taken responsibility for?
- Household work like doing the dishes/cooking/cleaning
- Putting kids to bed
- Waking them up and getting them ready for school
- Taking them for different classes/birthday parties
- Disciplining
- Nappy changing/toilet training
- Handling the difficult questions like sex education
- Reading to them
- Helping with the homework
- Bank work
- Groceries
- Dealing with household staff
- Maintenance
- Budgeting and finance handling
- I equally participate with my wife in all household work
WE DIVIDED THESE INTO HOUSE RELATED AND KIDS RELATED WORK AND GOT THIS
| House related work | Kid related work |
| 59% | 41% |
RESULTS IN GRAPH
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INVOLVEMENT OF FATHER’S IN PARENTING SURVEY IN GRAPH
PRESS COVERAGE
1. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
2. 88% Indian fathers are not confident of taking child out without wife around: Survey. Click here for weblink.
3. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
4. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
5. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
6. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
7. Fathers getting more involved in parenting, says survey. Click here for weblink.
8. Indian dads getting more involved in parenting and 65 per cent spend up to two hours with kids daily, finds survey. Click here for weblink.
