Caring Relationships within Families with Stay-at-home Fathers

Abstract

According to the traditional parental role perception, caring within the family, especially taking care of small children is primarily the role of the mother while the father, as the breadwinner, provides the family with financial stability by working in the labour market separated from the family. In recent decades, however in line with social change a new type of modern father-image has appeared behind which a more egalitarian concept of family role may lie. In parallel, along with the theory and practice of hegemon masculinity new definitions of masculinities, also supported by empirical research experience, are being formulated. They include in addition to a more equal distribution of chores, the care of young children. Furthermore, numerous researches show that fathers’ active participation in childcare has several positive effects on the relationship between the parents and the children, and between the parents themselves, as well as on family dynamics.  Although a shift from the traditional, breadwinner norm of fatherhood to the new type of caring father image can be seen in Hungary as well, even so, in comparison with international data, we can observe that stay-at-home fathers in Hungary rarely fit even in this image.  In our study, we are focusing on this expanding but very narrow group. Our results are based on 31 semi-structured interviews with fathers who actually, any time after the birth of their child, have stayed at home while the mother was working. In order to evaluate our results in a family context, we asked also the interviewees’ partners to fill in a short questionnaire.  Among our results we describe in our study on the one hand the characteristic patterns of stay-at-home fathers’ perceptions about fatherhood and closely related masculinity. On the other hand, we examine how time spent at home has shaped the relationship between fathers and their children, as well as the relationship between the parents themselves.