D Y Vyas

Contribution of working father’s as compare to their spouses towards upbringing of their wards is turning out to be near zero as often male parent find excuses, claming excess involvement to their establishments, forcing spouses to deport their children to Tiny Taughts and Tuition Centres, which are flourishing to mint money in all metros and large towns.

Above findings have come to fore following conclusion of a survey conducted under aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF), on “Plight of Modern Father towards their Children” in which over 4700 working parents in metros including large township participated, however, further reveals that in majority of cases male parents were found to be disowning responsibilities towards their kids and hapless mothers have to struggle to not only feed their spouses but also rare their children at home and outside. Cities involved in the survey include all metros and places like Lucknow, Chandigarh, Pune, Bangalore, Ahemdabad, Udaipur, Shimla, Dehradun, Indore, Patna, Cochin, Chennai etc.

Quoting findings of the survey, the ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr. D S Rawat said “only a meager 4% working fathers admitted that they squeeze out time to supervise and monitor their children at homeworks after winding up of their daily office routine which includes commuting time also. Remaining 96% fathers blamed the current job trends for not having been able to manage their time to care of their wards because of their excess adhering to offices. As a result the burden falls on their spouses who with great difficulties cope up with home and offices pressures including demand from children”.

Due to this, the children are sent away to tiny taughts, coching centres and crèche for which a considerable cost is spent out which damages the family budget, besides sometimes, the parents have to send away their wards to such places against their wishes and reluctance of children.

Out of 96% of working fathers, 7% indicated that they help their children occasionally. Just 24% of respondents said they help only if their children ask while only 65% said that they never help with their children homework.

On the other side, 65% working mother are more likely than male respondents to help their children in homework every time or most times. Although there is no gender difference when looking at those working fulltime mother (22%), working part-time (32%) or women at home (46%), women are more likely than men to help their child with homework.

Around two in five parents indicated that they are not confident helping their child with homework because of ‘different teaching methods these days’ (59%) and also because they ‘don’t understand the work their child does’ (21%). Another reason is that the respondent ‘wasn’t taught certain subjects at school’ (10%).

Working mother are most likely to do school projects with their children (83%) with slightly fewer respondents indicating that they play sport (20%), make things (79%) or read with their children (79%). Male parents are more likely than female parents to help with sport, while the opposite applied to cooking and drawing or painting.

The involvement of fathers in their children's schools is also important for children's achievement and behavior. In two-parent households, fathers' involvement in their children's schools has a distinct and independent influence on children's achievement over and above that of mothers. These findings show that fathers can be a positive force in their children's education, and that when they do get involve, their children are likely to do better in school, said Mr. Rawat.

Survey also highlighted that Children living with single fathers or with single mothers are highly involved in their schools--46% and 49%, respectively. Both fathers and mothers who head single-parent families have levels of involvement in their children's schools that are quite similar to mothers in two-parent families and are much higher than fathers in two-parent families. Children do better in school are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities, enjoy school more if their fathers are highly involved in their schools.

76% Parents that work long or irregular hours are not available for children after school, and especially to help with the homework, not able to attend school functions or sports days and not able to do things together at weekends or eat together” says the survey.

Fathers who are closely involved in their children's upbringing have a positive impact on academic achievement, point out the survey. Benefits of "father involvement" with their children include iBetter educational attainment, Good relationships in adolescence and adulthood, Have fewer behavioral problems, Have better cognitive and psychosocial development; and are less likely to drink, use drugs etc;

A good chunk of working parents money goes to the tuition teacher of their children say 82% of respondents and make their expectations higher of their children, which put most of them under undue stress, conclude the survey.