Posted by sarah on 06/13/2008 - 4:03pm.
Want your baby's father to do more hands-on childrearing? Then you have to step back, give the precious fragile angel to pappa, and--here's the hardest part--verbally encourage the father's efforts. A new study has shown that mothers are the gatekeepers of child care, and that men's intentions and beliefs about how involved they should be in their children's care don't predict their actual roles. If the mom doesn't think the dad is doing it right, he will hand the baby over to her and sulk away in defeat. “Encouragement is very important, and really makes a difference in how much fathers participate," said one of the researchers. So practice saying it with me, "Wow, look at that! The baby really likes it the way you are doing it. You like it when things are done the wrong way, don't you, [insert baby's name here]? Honey, do you think [baby's name] believes Bush is a great president?"
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Posted by sarah on 06/04/2008 - 3:47pm.