Modern Kids

Modern kids; you can't keep them away from the computer. And you shouldn't...Emmett actually taught me a cool trick on my computer that I never even knew about. I often wonder what technology the'll be dealing with in future and how I'll look like an old fuddy duddy.





Always wanting to help out.





Emmett has a thing for doors.



He loves our glass doors and constantly opens and closes them, playing the doorman.



He just hasn't gotten to the point where he'll let us in if we ask.

Proud to be a Father

This week I heard an interesting interview on the HBR Idea Podcast with Stephanie Coontz. She just finished a study and published a book called “A strange stirring: The feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960’s.

She talked about the cultural shift that started as women started entering the workforce in the 60’s. A working woman had more independence and thus the divorce rates increased in the 60’s and 70’s. However as societies (mostly western) accepted equal rights, the divorce rates have gone down in families with working mothers. Where in the 60’s a working mother brought instability into the household, today a working mother brings stability to the house.

Further on in the discussion she explained how the dichotomy has changed. The woman is in a more powerful roll now. It is acceptable for a woman to aspire to things that were once seen as a male only activities where men are suspect if they do anything feminine. Therefore now the double edged sword for men. They feel and want take an active role in their family however, society still hasn’t accepted this. The workplace is still designed that there will be one breadwinner and the other cares for the children. Some men reported they were going to a doctor appointment instead of saying it was their turn to pick up their child. A man is seen as questionable if he wants to teach young kids. The mother is always addressed at schools or doctors. Men clearly have a back seat in regards to family marketing.

As I am telling my wife about this she says, “yeah, a funny thing happened the other day.” They were reading Stella’s latest favorite book “Llama Llama Misses Mama”. In the middle she stopped and asked “where is the daddy?”

My heart glistened when Maja told me that. I do all I can to be as involved as possible. I work a lot but I do my best to give undivided attention when home and we share all tasks equally.

At the end of the interview Mrs. Coontz was asked what the future holds in the next 20 years. Her answer, it depends on how we carry on and embrace the evolving role changes.

Stella’s comment made me proud.

I am making an impression!

I am proud to be an active father (and don’t hide it)

I am proud that the fathers in our circle of friends are just as active.

I am proud to see the fathers picking up their kids at our pre-school.

I am proud that there are many more out there that ARE taking an active role in parenting. And with the internet we can be found.

There are some great men making such a difference in children’s lives.

Sweet juniper with his ever Mcguiver creations.

Teacher Tom running a cooperative kindergarten.

Outnumbered and his hilarious adventures.

And many more…

Germany is trying to recruit more men to be pre-school teachers.

A lot of the younger fathers at my work are much more involved which makes for good watercooler talk.

We still have a long way to go.

But we’re on the right path and I am glad I am on it.

Exploration

In our household everyone helps out. What a wonderful way to explore and learn and in this case, get soaked.

In an appendum to my last post regarding language development. I forgot to mention a most wonderful moment that actually triggered the post in the first place.

It has happened a couple of times and this is how I know it’s in her little noggin. I was talking with Stella one day while we were at sport. Her friend was standing next to her and she asked what I had said. Without batting an eyelash, Stella repeated exactly what I had said to her but in German. And as if bored, took off running across the room.

We’ve hit two major miles stones in our household over the holidays. The first is that Emmett is now fully walking. Albeit sometimes like a college student after a kegger but he’s walking. The transformation was amazing. Each day he would take more steps. One week if he fell over he would continue crawling. The next, when he fell over he would stand back up before taking off again.

Musical chairs. I’m not sure what the trigger was but Stella now only sits on the toilet. Emmett has replaced her on the potty. Evolution at its most visible!