Rise of the stay-at-home dad: Number of men looking after their kids at home is up by a third since pre-pandemic, UK stats show
- New data from Office for National Statistics shows a rise in stay-at-home dads
- From July-September, 141,000 dads didn’t have a paid job and stayed at home
- One in nine stay-at-home parents are now fathers, up from only one in 14 in 2019
A rise in stay-at-home dads means a third more men are now raising their children instead of working following the pandemic.
There was a ‘monumental’ shift in fathers’ childcare responsibilities during Covid, when many began working from home, according to experts.
Some men became so much more involved with family life that they gave up work to become a ‘house-husband’, with one in nine stay-at-home parents now fathers, up from only one in 14 three years ago.
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows between July and September this year, around 141,000 fathers did not have a paid job and instead ‘looked after the family home’.
A rise in stay-at-home dads means a third more men are now raising their children instead of working following the pandemic (file photo)
That is a third more fathers than the total of around 105,000 recorded before the pandemic, in the same period within 2019.
Dr Jeremy Davies, from the Fatherhood Institute, a charity which publishes research on fathers and lobbies for them to be taken into greater account in family life, said: ‘Fathers’ involvement in childcare has been increasing for decades, and there was a monumental jump in that involvement when the pandemic meant they suddenly could spend less time at their place of work, or travelling to it.
‘A high percentage of fathers enjoyed having this extra time to spend with their children, gained confidence as fathers, and were keen to find ways of continuing their greater involvement post-pandemic.
‘Our new study suggests many fathers have since managed to achieve the goal of taking on a bigger role in childcare.
‘Some are stay-at-home dads – who still make up a minority, but their number appears to be growing.’
At the height of the pandemic in March and April 2020, the amount of time men spent on childcare almost doubled, to an average of 90 minutes a day.
Women’s increased by just 17 per cent in comparison, to an average of 102 minutes a day.
The figures, which exclude paid childcare and are produced by the Office for National Statistics, show by by March of this year, things had gone pretty much back to normal for women in terms of time spent on childcare.
Stay-at-home dad Damion Founde, 38, with daughter Lilly, 13, and Alfie, aged six. Founde, who writes a blog about his experiences called The Northern Dad, lost his job as a retail manager in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic
But men still continue to provide almost a fifth more childcare than they did in 2014 to 2015, recording an average of 56 minutes a day.
Stay-at-home dads are still in the minority, but their number is on the rise while the number of stay-at-home mums has fallen by 11 per cent.
In July to September, there were almost 1.2 million mothers out of the workforce due to family reasons, compared to more than 1.3 million during the same period in 2019.
The number of men who are not currently part of the workforce due to family reasons rose slightly by five per cent in the period from August to October this year, compared to 2019, although that represented an increase of just 11 men.
Meanwhile, the number of women fell by 16 per cent.
Damion Founde, 38, who is a stay-at-home father, and writes a blog about his experiences called The Northern Dad, lost his job as a retail manager in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic and, after a long conversation, decided to stay at home so his wife could pursue her career as a nursery practitioner.
Once the pandemic was over, he planned to go back to work, but nearly three years later, he remains a stay-at-home dad.
Mr Founde, who lives in Teesside, said: ‘My wife has been promoted and is going from strength to strength at her job.
‘The situation we are in works – at times it can be exhausting, but that’s just parenting.
‘Over the past few years, I’ve seen a real change in the stigma attached to stay-at-home dads, and more and more men do the school run.
‘I once was questioned whether I had any self-worth, from not working and being a stay-at-home dad.
‘My answer was simple. I’ve gained more looking after my children than I ever have working for someone else and gaining nothing.’
Mr Founde, who is stay-at-home dad to Alfie, aged six, and Lilly, aged 13, and whose older daughter, Chloe, is now at university, said: ‘I used to spend more than 60 hours a week at work and so I inevitably missed my children’s first steps and their first words, and it was my wife who was there for their first day at school rather than me.
‘Now, I don’t miss a thing, so I’ll never regret my choice.’
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Working from home leads to fathers doing LESS childcare and housework out of fear they may ‘lose their masculinity’, study finds
While working from home has been embraced by many companies in the wake of the Covid pandemic, it may unintentionally be forcing couples into a more ‘traditional’ lifestyle.
A new study of parents who do not regularly visit an office has shown that mums often end up doing more of the childcare, while the dads do less.
This is thought to be because the mothers use their flexible working arrangements to schedule in more of the household responsibilities.
However, the University of Essex and University of Kent researchers suggest that home-working fathers fear they may ‘lose their masculinity’ if they take on more routine tasks.
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