How American Dads Became the Parents Their Fathers Never Were

This is a long, fascinating article about how parenting has changed for fathers since the mid 1900s. It’s reductive to pull this one quote—this is one that I think is worth your full attention (if it’s relatable). But at its core, the article argues that there are four interconnected things that contribute to dads spending more time with their kids (the numbering is my addition): There’s probably a bit of truth to all of these explanations. (1) Fathers’ childcare time increased fastest in the generation after women stormed into the workforce, as the dual-earner household model required that parents spread the labor of raising kids. (2) Childcare time continued to increase when many fathers realized that it brought them deep satisfaction. At the same time, (3) The surge in intensive parenting among educated moms and dads was also a stress response, with many parents fearing that anything but the most over-scheduled childhood would mark them with a scarlet letter—A for “apathetic…