HW 35

Christopher R

The question I wanted to focus on when talking to people about their ideas on birth was the role of the father in birth and what people thought the role of the father was. With the stereotype for the father being someone who is there for support and the mother being known as the person who not only takes care of the child but takes care of the entire family, I wanted to know exactly how people interpret their father’s role. All the questions that I asked were based around the idea of how fathers help, what fathers are supposed to do and personal experiences with men and birth. I hadn’t gotten very insightful quotes from the person I interviewed but I hadn’t expected it. First was a response to the question I had about what fathers are supposed to do to help the mother during the 9 months before birth. Women completely change the lifestyle they were living to only think about the baby. Men who do not get pregnant must have something to do during this time? Is this role only something that is classified as being supportive to the mother or is there something males can do that directly has an effect on the baby?

I started to notice when I was interviewing people I was getting consistent answers saying that men were only supposed to be there for support and they have to help the woman. Personally I don’t see this as the male helping the baby because it isn’t direct. The man is helping the woman to be more comfortable, which can help the baby which overall leads back to the idea that the female is the person who helps the female the majority of the time. Most of the answers involved the male going out and buying things for the babies’ arrival such as clothes and toys reinforcing that men “bread winners”. The only person who I spoke to that said the males have actual affect she said, “they need to be nurturing and gentle as well they have to change diapers as much as the mom feed them get up at night, they should be in a safe environment a man needs to step up change diapers and make himself known to the baby instead of being just a provider.”

While I agree with most of it I also think that men have to change as well. When a baby is deliver it requires a lot of attention and a man who is trying to get money to “help support” the baby and works too much is not giving the baby the attention it needs. More than anything a baby needs love, care and attention. If a man is usually away from home for a significant amount of time (business trips, personal reasons) this is something that has to change to help the development of the baby. The more the man is around the more this can help the woman who is pregnant as well. According to my friend Isaac and Kammie the purpose of the man is to be there for support with the availability of the man being there every day for a majority of the day it opens a lot of possibilities. If it takes to people to make a baby there is no reason to only utilize one.