With women being empowered to be all that they want to be and told to reach their full potential, the roles of father’s are being put on the back burner. But fathers have the amazing opportunity of providing, presiding and protecting and if they do take on those roles, then the family is able to greatly benefit.
Since the beginning of time, fathers took on these roles to the fullest. They took great pride in being able to provide for their families, but now women think that they need to be a provider as well to feel worthwhile and of the same importance. Men, in return, often take a step back and let the women provide as well. But in studies done on the average family’s finances, having the mother work didn’t give the desired outcome.
In the study they found that the woman didn’t end up contributing to the overall yearly income. Now this isn’t because she wasn’t working hard, or because she had a bad paying job, but it was because it cost more to have her work than to have her stay home and be able to raise her children. It seems a little crazy that this would happen, so what are the reasons for this?
The first reason is because of childcare. Without the mother staying home to watch the kids, they had to find someone else to do so, which meant paying someone else. So, in the process of earning money, they are already taking a huge chunk out of the paycheck to pay someone else for watching the children. The next reason is because of transportation. Now they aren’t just paying more for gas because of additional travel, but they need to get a second vehicle so they can both get to work. The last reason is because of the need to have certain clothes specifically for work. Many jobs have certain clothing expectations, so now she needs to spend more money so that she is in proper business attire. After looking into all of the costs, it was found that they ended up being payed only $1 an hour for a job that was taking her away from her family.
Now I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t find that worth it in any sense. I want to be a stay at home mom someday, and not being home with my kids so that we could have more income brought in, to then find out I was hurting the family more than I realized would be devastating. It is after this that I have an even greater desire for someone to be the provider for our family so that I can have the opportunity to stay home with the kids.
A note that needs to be taken however, is that those roles shouldn’t be completely separate. Just because the father is often the provider, that doesn’t mean that he is the only one that makes decisions over the finances, and just because the mother often stays home with the kids doesn’t mean that the father isn’t involved with the children. We may have separate roles, but we need to work together.
The father does so much good when he is involved with his family. In kids, it is the father that teaches them how to regulate their emotions, and that continues throughout their lives. It is even found that when the father is present in the home, teenage girls are less likely to get into bad relationships and become pregnant. So, we need to put our focus on strengthening families, and as we do, we will all be empowered!
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