Last night my husband and I went to see Sex and the City. Yes. My husband. He was the only dude there. It was most noticeable when a bare male butt was up on the screen and he said out loud, "I didn't need to see that" and we heard a chorus of female giggles.The situation got me thinking about our Gen X men. I'm not sure they are getting the credit they deserve for helping Gen X women have it all. They are confident enough in their masculinity to change diapers and have wives with equal career status (and go see Sex and the City). And yet they kind of get the shaft when it comes to taking leave from work to tend to family matters.
Kristina commented recently on this blog that men need to have equal flexibility in their work to also focus on parenting. Most of the Gen X dads I know took substantial time off after the births of their children. And they paid for it at the office. Some even took grief from their own fathers as to why they would want to do such a thing.
So lets give our guys a high-five and hope the next generation of parents will benefit for the their willingness to stand up for their kids and take their FMLA days regardless of what the boss thinks.
P.S. Sex and the City was kind of lame. But my husband liked it. Maybe it's not such a chick flick after all.
5 comments:
I"m with you. High five to all the men like my hubby who since our kids were born, right up till the youngest starts kindergarten this fall, has taken a day a week off to parent his kids. In fact, I work much more than he does and he parents at least 50% if not more. Yeah, dads!
But I could never, ever get him to go see Sex in the City, so your hubby wins this one. -)
Carla
http://40-nowwhat.blogspot.com/
Sex and the City seems to have a polarizing effect on both men and women... people either love the movie or they hate it
Amen to the praise for Gen X men. Probably even more so than women they are quietly living their lives on their own terms.
In many cases that means Gen X men have embraced a lot of the parental and household responsibilities that were previously considered women's work. And on the flip side they have made sacrifices or trade-offs in their career in favor of their family.
I know that my career and family life would be very different had my husband made different choices about his own career and parenting style. Of course he could say the same thing about the impact of my choices on his life. Funny how that works.
Hey, thanks for the shout-out.
My in-laws and parents are always marveling at how "involved" the GenX dads are in my group of friends. They're not amazed in a critical way, as if there's something wrong. In fact, they seem a bit awestruck.
To me, it doesn't seem that shocking. Wonderful, but not shocking. Why shouldn't fathers actually PARENT their children (as opposed to just babysitting if the wife is shopping)? Rock on, GenX dads.
p.s. I liked Sex and the City! But I'm not polarized about it...
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