{"id":8411,"date":"2016-01-12T09:15:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T14:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/?p=8411"},"modified":"2016-01-11T19:23:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T00:23:47","slug":"do-dads-have-all-the-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/do-dads-have-all-the-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Dads Have All the Fun?"},"content":{"rendered":"
At a New Year’s eve party I was discussing, of all things, parenting with some of the other moms (*gasp*, right)! The topic of playing with our kids came up. While most of the husbands were downstairs playing sports with the kids, we were all quick to say how we just don’t have the energy to continuously play with our kids. We all agreed that one ‘active’ activity per day was sufficient for us and then we were fine doing quiet games with our kids (i.e. board games, card games or reading). However, it seemed that our husbands could keep going on and on. I know that’s true for us. John plans our weekends around sports activities. Ideally, a typical Saturday for him would include taking Kyle to hockey, then taking the boys skating, and then playing more sports in our basement (either more hockey or some baseball).<\/p>\n
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The thing is, all of the moms that were chatting enjoy playing sports.\u00a0So we were trying to figure out what could it be. What is it that often makes dads more actively playful with their kids and why are moms more likely to enjoy quiet play? Why does it seem like dads have all the fun? Of course, we were just generalizing here. I know of a few\u00a0families where the opposite is true.<\/p>\n
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So what could it be? We think (a hypothesis) that perhaps it has to do with the division of labour around the house. The moms are constantly making mental lists and thinking of EVERYTHING that they need to do for their family. From the mundane tasks of filling out school forms, signing the kids up for programs, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, planning birthday parties, family gatherings, meals and so forth. That’s a lot of BUSY, and it’s constant. We don’t have physical energy because we are mentally exhausted!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A friend of mine and I have this discussion constantly. She feels that all she does is complain to me about her husband. It’s not that he’s not helpful or a loving father and husband, but when it comes down to it, he’ll only “help” her out if she asks him to. \u00a0She just wishes he would take the lead and do things around the house without her nudging. I guess we all just want some help clearing out mental space in our heads. \u00a0If we had that, I wonder if we would have more energy for our kids?!?!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n