Many of today鈥檚 fathers of young children grew up with a mom who got up in the night when they were sick, prepared meals and cleaned the house. Moms went to the daytime school events and took children to the doctor.聽
Dad came home from work and spent some time playing with the kids and perhaps took them out on the weekends.聽
But times have changed.聽
One in 10 fathers is a full-time, stay-at home dad, according to 2015 Statistics Canada figures. 聽
In 1976, 1 in 70 Canadian dads were stay at home parents.聽
The number of stay-at-home mothers declined in almost every year between 1976 and 2015.聽
Sean Kozak is a Squamish stay at home dad.聽
鈥淪ean is an incredible dad to our two boys.聽 We are incredibly lucky to have him,鈥� said his spouse, Kathy Kozak.聽
For the Kozaks, the decision for Sean to stay home with their sons Evan, 7, and Chance, 4, started out as simple economics. 聽
鈥淏asically when Evan was born, financially it is what made sense for our family,鈥� said Kathy, who works for an investment firm; a position that requires she travel for work.聽 Sean was working in the audio industry at the time.聽
As of 2014, in about one-third of Canadian families, the mother earned more than the father, according to Vancouver School of Economics expert Kevin Milligan.
The Kozak鈥檚 arrangement continued after their second son was born and while parenting is never easy, the setup has worked out well so far, Sean Kozak said.聽
鈥淛ust like with any parent, male or female, you get drained and you have to reset your perspective from time to time鈥� but no regrets,鈥� he said.聽
Kozak鈥檚 own father was in the military and didn鈥檛 meet his son until the boy was about nine months old.聽
鈥淚 think it was in the back recesses of my brain to really enjoy spending time with my kids,鈥� Kozak said.聽
The role of fathers is important to how children develop, studies show.聽
Time playing, or roughhousing, with dad helps kids learn to, among other things, read emotions, take smart risks, manage strong impulses and cope with frustration and failure, according to a 2016 study by educational psychologist Jennifer StGeorge, a senior lecturer at Australia鈥檚 University of Newcastle.
Of course, mothers can do this too and both male and female children benefit, but males typically gravitate to more roughhouse play and boys typically benefit more from it, StGeorge found.聽
鈥淟ikely men鈥檚 preference to play physically in the rough-and-tumble competitive way is linked to evolution,鈥� StGeorge said in an interview.聽
The role of the father in the family can also help determine a child鈥檚 future, in particular a daughter鈥檚 aspirations.聽
A 2014 U小蓝视频 study of聽 326 children, aged seven-13, found 鈥渢he strongest predictor of daughters鈥� own professional ambitions was their fathers鈥� approach to household chores.鈥�
The study, The Second Shift Reflected in the Second Generation: Do Parents鈥� Gender Roles at Home Predict Children鈥檚 Aspirations?, by then U小蓝视频 professor Alyssa Croft, suggests girls grow up with broader career goals when domestic duties are shared more equitably by parents. 鈥淚t is important that dads not only talk the talk about gender equality at home but also walk the walk because their daughters seem to be watching,鈥� she said when the study was published.
Of course, not all families can afford to have either parent stay home.聽
Overall, fewer parents are staying home.聽
The number of single-earner families with a stay-at-home parent dropped from about 1.5 million in 1976 to less than 500,000 in 2015, according to Stats Can.聽
Kozak said as much as his sons may benefit from him being at home, so does he.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e both been able to bond with them and it is just a time that you can鈥檛 get back,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is pretty awesome.鈥�
His plan for Father鈥檚 Day is to head out to a bike park with his oldest son.聽
