Middle class men are more likely to actively parent?

[Bananapancakes00]

Just based on observations of people I know, on average, middle class men are more likely to share childcare duties, especially of babies, when not working. Whereas working class men tend to believe it's the woman's job to look after young children. Not saying either is better, just a difference in attitudes and social norms. Aibu?

You seem to be talking about people who are a bit more on the margins than just working class though.

Working class covers a wide range of jobs. It seems possible that the people you were talking to could have had a horrible experience at school or with people in authority generally.

Yeah and I bed dads are more up for playing after just being at a computer or sat in meetings, vs if they'd been down a coal mine all day they'd be more tired

My observations, for what they’re worth:
Upper class dads completely detached from their children. Mothers also weirdly detached. Kids often board from under 10.

Middle class dads and working class - haven’t noticed a great deal of difference. Most aren’t as hands on as they (or some of their partners) claim they are.

Most men IME are not particularly hands on dads and are very happy to allow their dc mothers to be the default parent. I know one man who I would say was an excellent dad, and was equally the default parent, but once his child was 15 he decided he’d had enough of being a parent, gave his wife an ultimatum (focus on meee not the child) and left.

Same I still haven't worked out what class we are, I'm missing out on all these great Mumsnet debates 😩 he's got a well paid office job but we had our first child at 16 so surely belong to the ghetto 😂

I disagree. Mumsnet is full of women with husbands with important jobs that have them out the house for 12 hours a day and home after the kids are in bed.
My son plays grassroots football and it's full of working class dads giving up their time to coach and train the boys. Not a middle class man in sight.

I don't think it's necessarily more time so much as more flexibility - DH and I both work a lot of hours but we can both usually arrange our diaries to attend school events, parents evenings etc.

Also the money to outsource things - e.g. cleaning, gardening, DIY - frees up time

I am not convinced- I think when most MC people have children they are in their 30s and still establishing their career and so flexibility is hard. Young children and establishing a career was tough, brutal - there were some days we were so sleep deprived that we just couldn’t go into work as we would have been a risk.

However, I don’t think fathers actively parenting is a class issue.

Overall I agree OP. I am a nurse and see people from all walks of life. I’d say it’s much more common for men appearing middle class (in their behaviour, dress, when chatting about work etc) to bring their children in to be seen for sickness, vaccinations, asthma check etc. Much less common for working class men to bring their kids in independently, may well be as they’re working which is fair enough!