The Doofus Dad stereotype has always been around, with characters such as Fred Flinstone, Dagwood Bumstead and even Charlie Brown's monotone parents. But the consistency of these new portrayals has slowly created a new norm opposed to what being a father used to mean.
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Joe Kelly stands in front of a room of professionals. Some in the audience are schoolteachers, while others are therapists or physicians.
He selects a man and a woman from the audience to join him on the stand. Looking at each of them, he says, "OK, pretend each of you are 22 years old and have decided to get married and have children. You have a completely egalitarian marriage, so you're going to share the rearing of your children equally."
Kelly then turns to the woman and asks, "How many years' experience do you have as a baby sitter?" The response varies from two to five years or more. He then turns to the man and asks the same question.
After hearing an answer that is usually "none," Kelly turns to the audience and says, "Raise your hand if you have ever had a teenage boy who is not a member of your family baby-sit your children?"
At this point, with the room in silence, Kelly then says, "It doesn't happen. But then we get annoyed and frustrated when men don't know how to calm a colicky baby? What did you expect?"
According to Kelly, an author and co-founder of the U.S. advocacy group Dads and Daughters, expectations for men are not where they should be. Not only have these attitudes and low standards worked their way into a majority of men in the media, they have worked their way into our homes.
Read more at Deseret News.
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