“Ya ba da ba doo,” that’s how I feel too.
I love my work as much as the next cave man. But when it’s time to leave work for family home activities, I get that same whistle-blowing rush that launched Fred Flinstone down the dinosaur’s back and into his car.
And it looks like I’m not the only guy who’s eager to participate in adolescent parenting. A recent survey shows that among men in their 20s and 30s, most would even give up some of their pay for more time with their family. For kids, this is good news.
Guys my age were twice as likely to be willing to make the sacrifice as older men, and we were more willing to take the cut than women at any age. Today, more dads are serving as primary care givers and more than 3 million kids live with single dads, triple the number in 1980.
But putting our family values into practice may not be as easy in our round-the-clock-always-on world as it was in the stone ages. As I finish this article, it’s 6:30 p.m. and I’m late for dinner—a reminder that it’s time for me to set some new priorities to make sure that first things stay first. How about you?
Bryan Taylor is President of EduGuide.