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It's trendy to be a stay-at-home dad

Categories: Just for dads, Money & work

Stay-at-home fathers are trendy, apparently.

That's the story according to a recent article on fathers as primary caregivers. While the piece unfortunately utilizes the tired and outdated "Mr Mom" cliche, it does a good job presenting the growing trend without sensationalizing it (mainstream media have a habit of treating stay-at-home dads like freak show oddities).

A particular point of interest -- at least for me -- was just how many men are staying home these days. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded 159,000 stay-at-home fathers (more than three times what the number was 10 years ago), and other researchers put the number as high as 2 million -- noting that the Census Bureau figures don't include fathers who work part time or from home.

As this generation of fathers seems ready to take on a more domestic role, and there's an increasing number of women outearning their partners in the workplace, the trend appears to be growing quickly.

I wonder how long it'll be before this is so common it's no longer newsworthy.

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