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I can't relate. Its not because I don't have children. I've basically had children since I was 13. Well, they were my sister's kids, but I still took care of t

I can't relate. Its not because I don't have children. I've basically had children since I was 13. Well, they were my sister's kids, but I still took care of them as they were my own (in a way). I recently had to watch a few of my sister's kids while she was touring with the Army. This was for a year, and the kids were pretty young (twins at one years old and another 3 year old). They were a handful, but I was always up to the task to take care of them. That involves, nurturing, feeding, disciplining, educating, cleaning, playing and interacting. Its a lot of work, but it can be done. In away, I see them as my children, since I've been around they everyday for a year. Long story short, it wasn't because I was a girl that I successfully took care of my nieces (for that short period of time). I'm a dude. I don't find it strange either. Parenting really is just a task. How well you do correlates to how much effort you put into it. Its a lot of work to take care of kids as well as take care of yourself and your occupation. Perhaps this is the reason why we have marriages. Having two adults makes this task much easier. So lets go back to the subject on men being great parents and a great employer/businessman. It can be done. We are not aliens. We are no inept. We are human. We have as much of a chance to be successful fathers than any women being successful mothers. Its all about effort.

papsosouid 14y ago
It seems weird that you start off with "I can't relate", and then your entire post has very little to do with the article at all. Did you read it? He didn't suggest men are incapable of being great parents, quite the opposite in fact.
- sreyaNotfilc 14y ago
  I guess I should have been a bit more clear with my intro sentence. "I can't relate" was more towards the title of the article (Why Men Can't Have It All) than the actual content. I'm not sure what's up with the title actually. The content is basically what "krktb" wrote as a reply. I'm not debating that. I just merely linked my childcare experiences with the article's examples while refuting its title. I can't relate to the "social stigma" that men are looked to be inept when it comes to child care. It doesn't make any sense why that would be. As I explained, child care is basically a task. Almost any task can be performed by either a male or a female. This includes taking care of a child. To do this task well, all that matters is the effort you exert. I explained the rest in my blab above, so I'm not going to revisit it. I apologize if you didn't understand what I was getting at, papsosouid. I'll make sure I'm more clear next time.
- deleted 14y ago
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hrktb 14y ago
The title of the article was relevant but misleading. It was not much about the ability or not of men to parent children, than on the perception of their abilities and expectations (or lack of) to do it from the society POV. Your experience is supposed to be exceptionnal, and men really investing themself in parenting is not the expected behaviour. And in my experience taking a long parental leave for a man can be more or less difficult, but it is also surprisingly awkward (you're just slacking are you? jokes abunding) and needs a lot more justification. It seems to be changing, but so slowly.

papsosouid 14y ago

It seems weird that you start off with "I can't relate", and then your entire post has very little to do with the article at all. Did you read it? He didn't suggest men are incapable of being great parents, quite the opposite in fact.

sreyaNotfilc 14y ago
I guess I should have been a bit more clear with my intro sentence. "I can't relate" was more towards the title of the article (Why Men Can't Have It All) than the actual content. I'm not sure what's up with the title actually. The content is basically what "krktb" wrote as a reply. I'm not debating that. I just merely linked my childcare experiences with the article's examples while refuting its title. I can't relate to the "social stigma" that men are looked to be inept when it comes to child care. It doesn't make any sense why that would be. As I explained, child care is basically a task. Almost any task can be performed by either a male or a female. This includes taking care of a child. To do this task well, all that matters is the effort you exert. I explained the rest in my blab above, so I'm not going to revisit it. I apologize if you didn't understand what I was getting at, papsosouid. I'll make sure I'm more clear next time.
deleted 14y ago
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hrktb 14y ago

The title of the article was relevant but misleading. It was not much about the ability or not of men to parent children, than on the perception of their abilities and expectations (or lack of) to do it from the society POV. Your experience is supposed to be exceptionnal, and men really investing themself in parenting is not the expected behaviour. And in my experience taking a long parental leave for a man can be more or less difficult, but it is also surprisingly awkward (you're just slacking are you? jokes abunding) and needs a lot more justification. It seems to be changing, but so slowly.