You’re 5 years old and you go to the kitchen to have breakfast. The usual is on the table: bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes and orange juice. You sit down to eat your eggs, but when you finish, you notice something different. Your mom isn’t cooking, it’s your dad.
The role of the working parent in this country has changed in recent years, as more and more women are getting a higher education and continuing to enter the workforce.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, the United States had an estimated 5.5 million stay-at-home parents during the last census in 2002, with 5.4 million of them mothers and 98,000 fathers.
Cheryl Smith, part-time lecturer in sociology and the department of family and consumer sciences, described this phenomenon as a result of change in times and economics.
“The cost of living is so high that this is partly a result of economics and necessity,” Smith said. “It has to do with the economics of the time and the fact that a female is working and the male is staying at home is irrelevant.”
Smith also said that regardless of the role that a parent plays, the end result is more important. Parents should appreciate each others’ contributions, regardless of who is working and who is staying at home.
“It’s much more acceptable now for women to work and men to stay home,” Smith said. “Sometimes it has to do with age, like when a man is much older than the woman and might choose to retire, which allows the woman to get a job and for the man to stay at home. It has to do with them wanting to appreciate the spouse.”
Heather Hoang, freshman communications major, said this rising trend is a good thing and gives parents more choices.
“It gives women the freedom to do what they want to do rather than being stay-at-home moms,” Hoang said. “It also depends on the husband if he wants to do that. But it kind of gives a man a better name. I think these days if men were to do it, it would have a better affect on society.”
Freshman kinesiology major Trish Gorny had a similar opinion, but she said that men have as much to gain as women.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Gorny said. “Women have been stereotyped as being housewives, but these days, there aren’t set rules for women. My grandma is very into the idea that women should stay at home and men should work. They [men] can be as much of a man if they stay at home and wash dishes.”
“Whatever [the parents] agree upon is fine,” Matt Smith, junior kinesiology major, said. “If my wife’s makin’ the cash, I’ll take care of the kids.”
