So fathers want to be ‘more present’ in the home? Put down your phone and I’ll tell you how

Working mothers still bear the burden of care at home. ‘My partner was indifferent to mess, menus or making appointments.’ Photograph: Shutterstock

‘Like many men of my generation, I wanted to be a more present father than my own had been.” As I read the first sentence of another article about fathers staying at home, I thought about how we glorify men (or how men want to be glorified) for selflessly deigning to set their careers aside, which is usually seen as being “for” their spouse, and getting away with doing the bare minimum.

Staying at home with the children is not babysitting – it is a complicated business of physical, emotional and cognitive labour.