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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be really chuffed to see that the 4 parents hanging around at the school gate, chatting, before a busy day of staying at home

18 replies

Hatwoman · 23/09/2011 20:25

were all men? We have a high proportion of parents with "flexible" working arrangements and as I drove off the other day (to work) I glanced back and saw that all the gate-hanger-on-ers were blokes. made me smile and smile and feel hopeful for my dds' future

OP posts:
suzikettles · 23/09/2011 20:35

Oh yes, loads of dads picking up and dropping off round here too. I'd say about 25% and much higher if I just included the people we know personally.

I guess it's quite a lot of flexible hours/part time working on both sides of couples, plus men who have chosen to be SAHDs and men where that's the way it's working at the moment due to unemployment.

A complete contrast to when I was at Primary.

DiscoDaisy · 23/09/2011 20:37

When my eldest started school 11 years old there was never any dad's in the playground . Now my youngest is in yr 2 there can be anything up to 25% of dad's in the playground some days.
OK it's not brilliant but it's still better than it was!

Original poster
Hatwoman · 23/09/2011 20:39

our school is tiny - 4 dads probably represents about 10-20 per cent of the parents on a given day. and yes it's a mixture of people who wfh, couples who both work pt, self-employed with flexible hours etc etc. a very lucky lot.

OP posts:
stoatie · 23/09/2011 20:48

My husband always drops DD2 off at school - he walks her to school and then on to work (another 5 minutes away) - ours is a school near to very small county town centre - we have loads of dads dropping children off - think most work at hospital (like OH) or Shire Hall!

Mumcentreplus · 23/09/2011 20:56

My DH usually picks up our children from school (he works nights)...they have a man-crew that gathers around one of the wooden lunch tables they talk footie and wives Grin...

GeekLove · 23/09/2011 20:57

I remember being proud that my Dad was the only dad in the playground- he worked nights you see Grin

GwendolineMaryLacey · 23/09/2011 21:07

We have loads of dads collecting too. All Filipino, Catholic school, don't know if any of that makes any difference. Don't know them well enough to know if it's working patterns or what but it's nice to see.

bubby64 · 23/09/2011 21:11

Lots of men picking up, especially when there is an after school club, a lot of farmers around here, and it is noticable there are less during the harvest.
Also I notice many of the Dads are from families who have seperated, they seem to be far more involved with their kids after the seperation nowdays.

Georgimama · 23/09/2011 21:13

Loads of fathers do pick up and drop off at DS's school, I'd say 50/50.

Chundle · 23/09/2011 21:15

One of my neighbours is a stay at home dad while his wife goes out to work. My hubby thinks we should have same arrangement - he can chuff off!

flyingspaghettimonster · 23/09/2011 21:20

I send hubby to take the kids into school most days - since he can drop them on his way to work and I can lie in with the toddler an extra hour. Sometimes he picks them up too - he isn't a stay-at-home Dad, just flexible hours. A lot of the parents doing pick ups and drop offs here are Dads. Also often both parents turn up together because of their work schedules. i think it is nice how much time Dads seem to invest in their kids these days - maybe I just had dead-beat Dads, but I don't remember any hands-on parenting from either of mine.

oldraver · 23/09/2011 21:30

I think men outnumbered woman at todays pick up. It does tend to vary but we have a lot of shift workers who work in the town so it does make it flexible for school run stuff

Iteotwawki · 24/09/2011 00:31

Chundle - why should he "chuff off"? What's so terrible at the thought of the female partner working at a salaried job while the male partner works at the household / childcare job?

Morloth · 24/09/2011 00:37

DH will be doing the morning school run when we move. The bus to work is just opposite the school.

startail · 24/09/2011 00:57

My DH sometimes takes DD to school if he doesn't have to be at work early or on the days he works from home. Collects much more rarely as at 3.20pm he is generally on the phone or deep in computer code land.
DDs used to moan about a Dad who often picked his DCs up and went on some of their trips. Had to explain that he was a paramedic and that his DCs often didn't get to see him evenings and weekends insteed.

Quidsi · 24/09/2011 01:01

My Dh does either the morning pick up or the afternoon one. He thought he was so special till he turned up at school and realised how many men do the school run Smile

Rowgtfc72 · 24/09/2011 07:43

Dh does the drop off , I do the pick up, sometimes shifts allow us to do this together. Quite a few dads here to.

MittzyTheVixen · 24/09/2011 07:52

Our school has also a high proportion of Dad's picking up, and off the top of my head I think some days they even top the mums Smile

We are not a million miles from away each other Hat, perhaps it is something in the water!

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