Hope everyone's having a great start to the second week of school!
This week there's a comment as well in response to the main article, so you can have a go at analysing two texts. Remember, there's no solid focus on comparing and contrasting for the exam, so just be careful you're not comparing throughout your writing
TITLE: Please include fathers when making social arrangements for children
DATE: 3rd Feb 2019
SOURCE:
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/please-include-fathers-when-making-social-arrangements-for-children-20190201-p50v2l.html NOTE: Part of the main article has been removed to ensure it was not too long -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
School is back and my mind has gone into overdrive with all the things I need to remember and organise.
My twins are going into Year 3 and they want to try new things. I am excited about all the possibilities for them, while also trying to preserve space in the schedule for free play and family time.
In the past few weeks I’ve arranged after-school care and activities, helped them choose their school sports, sorted out their uniforms, and signed them up for the school music program. Meanwhile, it’s their birthday soon and they’ve been promised a party I’m yet to organise.
It’s even more daunting for parents of children starting kindergarten or prep, so I was interested to see financial technology company, IRESS, last week announcing an additional 8.5 days of leave at full pay for parents whose children are starting school for the first time.
Flexibility is good for everyone, especially parents and most especially mothers who are still more likely to be the main caregiver for children in Australia. Expect to see more companies offer benefits of this kind to attract and retain talent.
I’m past that stage and while in previous years I’ve felt overwhelmed, I feel pretty good about my juggle this year. I have a fair sense of what’s too-busy and what’s not-busy-enough and I know if it becomes too much, we can drop back.
I book a lot of things online after the kids are in bed, so I don’t need to make phone calls during the working day. My children have an excellent father and devoted grandparents in their lives, so it’s not all on me. My husband and I use online collaboration and messaging service Slack to coordinate our efforts. I make most of the arrangements, but school drop-offs and pick-ups and ferrying to and fro is a team effort.
But here’s my plea for my fellow parents, schools, after-school care centres, activity providers, maths tutors, music teachers, paediatricians and everyone else involved in the lives of our children: If a child has a mum and a dad and you have contacts for both, please don’t drop the man off the communications.
Although most Australian mothers work outside the home, Australian women also do most of the unpaid care work. Workplace Gender Equality Agency figures estimate women spend an average of 64 per cent – nearly two-thirds – of their working week performing unpaid care work, and almost twice as many hours performing such work as men.
That probably doesn’t even include all the life administration that is part of running a household with children but is not directly care of children. If I reply to a text about a birthday party or answer an email about swimming lessons while I’m on the train to work, it's not technically childcare but it takes time and thought. I don’t begrudge it, I’m simply acknowledging it has value.
And we shouldn’t assume it’s the mother's task. These days most parents work, and sometimes the father is the one who is better at social coordination. Imagine how frustrating it must be for fathers who want to be actively involved to be continually dropped off email chains or other messaging apps so they miss out on key information.
And even when we know that a child's mother is the main organiser for her particular family, there’s usually no reason not to keep men in the loop. (If there is a reason, then use common sense).
If we don’t keep men on the cc list, how will anything change? How can men step up and do their share, if they are kept in the dark about what’s involved?
Not every father is going to become the organiser-in-chief for their family – hopefully because they contribute in other ways. But at least let them see the invisible work their partner does.
By Caitlin FitzsimmonsComment:by Towers
1 DAY AGO
Of course no one talks talks how mothers estrange kids from fathers to maiximise welfare and child support. It has been 6 years that I have never seen my daughter, the mother denying me access, has cut me of and moved interstate with a boyfriend raising her and fathering her, lying to her that I do not exist, when will you write about men being abuse by mothers, family law, csa, men force to pay but with zero access to be there for their child, I have never met my daughter, it has been six years, all this happening in a supposedly developed nation called Australia where kids are being estranged from fathers, kids abused by stepfathers and being impregnated by foster brothers, step brothers, all this is the consequence of selfish women using all sorts of legal loopholes to falsely criminalise men