Statistics for Stay Home Fathers

AT HOME DAD NUMBERS

17.3 percent of all children aged 0-4 with employed mother

Census Bureau, 2007 (based on 2005 data, Excel file)

Or maybe it's 25 percent (Press release)

Or 17.2 percent ("historical table")

Or 18.2 percent ("detailed table 2b")

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159,000

Census Bureau, 2007 (based on 2006 data, Excel file)

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143,000

Census Bureau, 2006 (based on 2005 data, CSV file, sorry)

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147,000

Census Bureau, 2005 (based on 2004 data, Excel file)

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98,000

Census Bureau, 2004 (based on 2003 data)

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105,000

Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 2002 data)

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18.5 percent of fathers with working wives

Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 1999 data)

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1,915,000

Census Bureau, 1997 (based on 1993 data)





22 percent of fathers

Spike TV survey, via Time magazine, 2004

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80,000 (Japan)

Social Insurance Agency, as cited in newspaper report

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155,000 (UK)

Cited in newspaper report, 2004 (story now in paid archive)

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11 percent of fathers (UK)

Early Learning Centre, 2004

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MEN CONSIDERING AT-HOME FATHERHOOD



37 percent

careerbuilder.com, 2007





"Four-in-ten"

careerbuilder.com, 2006

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49 percent

careerbuilder.com, 2005

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43 percent

careerbuilder.com, 2004





56 percent

Spike TV survey, 2004

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40 percent

careerbuilder.com, 2003

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"Almost half" (UK)

Pregnancy and Birth Magazine survey, 2004 (based on newspaper report)

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"One-third" (UK)

Pregnancy and Birth Magazine survey, 2003 (based on newspaper report now in paid archives)

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FYI

I am fortunate not to be a single father. I am also fortunate enough to usually work from my home and serve my family as a stay home father.

Interesting facts

THIS INFORMATION COMES FROM: http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/fatherssingle.html


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- The number of single fathers in the United States has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years: there were 2.0 million in 1997, 50 percent more than in 1990 and triple the number in 1980. Consequently, these families comprised 5 percent of all parent-child families in 1997, up from 2 percent in 1980. More traditional family situations, in which the child lives with two parents, numbered 25.6 million in 1997. www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html



- Most of the nation's single fathers (84 percent) maintained their own household in 1997. The remainder lived in the home of a relative (12 percent) or a nonrelative (4 percent). www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html



- In 1997, nearly half of single fathers (46 percent) were divorced, while 32 percent never married, 13 percent were separated and about 5 percent each were widowed and separated due to reasons other than martial discord. www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html



- The majority of single fathers (61 percent) were raising one child in 1997; 10 percent were raising three or more. www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html



- In 1997, about three-quarters of the nation's single fathers (76 percent) were White, another 19 percent were African American; and 13 percent were Hispanics, who may be of any race. www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html

Being apart from your child

On occassion, even a stay home father has to be away from his child, children and/or family for that matter.  It is situations like these that we are able to reflect and truly appreciate the time we have with our little ones.  A dear friend of mine, whom is also a stay home father for the most part, has been away from his son for a week and has more time of seperation ahead of him.  I have witnessed his emotional lows of missing his two year old son, as well as the excitement he experiences when he speaks to him.  We have discussed this and I have felt his pain. A big part of his pain comes from not knowing when they will get to be together again as he follows career opportunities that are taking him away from his normal routine.  My point here is simply this: cherish every second of every minute of every day that you get to share with your child. There are many out there that would do anything to be with their child more often!

Early Childhood Development and Television

Experts say that television is not a good thing before the child reaches 3 years of age.  I agree 99%!!! The exception for me is Nickelodeon Jr.-----as long as I remove my child during marketing blitzes.  The upside for Nick Jr. is no commercials from outside sources, so there are no toy promotions or cereal advertisements that may manipulate behavior or desires of the child.  Not all Nick Jr. programs are suitable for a little one under two years old by any means, but for now I am seeing a great deal of learning and development coming from certain shows.  I also like Sesame Street on PBS, but again the commercial breaks are avoided.  I am a marketing professional by trade, so I fully understand the potential influences of advertising and promotions.

Don't get me wrong here.... All day everyday is not appropriate. In fact, small doses of television (as mentioned above) mixed in with adult interaction (such as reading books, using flash cards and other learning tools), and plenty of play and excercise are the best medicine.

My mother always used to say about doctors: "There is a reason they call it a practice..."  and mother truly knows best :-)

Making Mistakes

The first thing I have learned as a father is that we will make mistakes. As we all have been told millions of times, we have to learn from our mistakes. Most of the time we learn not to repeat these mistakes. If you are a male then you are likely to think as I do and work to not repeat the same error. However, as I have learned from my sensitive and intelligent wife... it is being able to apply the mistake to more than just the specific incident that provides real learning. I am not always the best at applying things to the so-called "big picture", but when I do it adds a real boost to the learning process.  I encourage all that read this to not be discouraged by your mistakes and to try to apply what you learn to all aspects of your life, not just parenting or whatever setting the mistake took place.