Families are like Fingerprints: They are all Different

With special guest:

• Clint Greagen

It is time to check in again with our favourite Stay-at- Home Dad namely Clint Greagen, the Reservoir Dad.

We last spoke to Clint after the release of his book Reservoir Dad which described his experiences after he quit his job while his wife Tania returned to the workforce. This decision meant that Clint became the parent of first resource, the glue in the family and exchanged a career outside the home for all the benefits that come from a close relationship with one’s own children. Clint and Tania now have four children ranging from age 5 through to age 12.

Clint can speak with authority about the recent study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies on stay-at-home parents. Clint is especially motivated to speak up because of the treatment given to the results of the study by the media. Headlines such as “Do stay-at-home Dads have to lift their game?” are misleading about the study findings and what is really going on.

Clint has gone to print in his regular blog saying that old-fashioned stereotypes are still out there when we should be considering the enormous variety of family structures that are in the community and well-accepted by the majority. Clint says it is crazy to say that men are the primary breadwinner and should not consider doing something different. Similarly women may be stereotyped as being the best homemakers.

Clint suggests that a better study for the AIFS would be to identify what causes parents to adopt different roles and if men are forced into a role that they do not feel comfortable with how can we as a community help them. But we need to acknowledge the diversity of individual families before studies are proposed, before headlines are written, before funding is allocated in any direction.

It is important to give some serious recognition to the different roles of parents. This might end the popularity of shows on television that portray men as more interested in the number of beers in the fridge than the welfare of their family.

Check out the Reservoir Dad blog but first of all make sure you listen to a stay-at-home Dad who tells it like it is.

Clint Greagen

Clint Greagen decided some ten years ago to quit his job so that his wife could continue in her career while he could devote himself to caring for their children. After facing up to unflattering comments about his manliness and being the only Dad in kindergarten groups it has become a rewarding experience for Clint and enabling for his wife Tania. Now Clint has found a new career that allows him to work from home as a book author and blogger. For a list of Clint’s speaking engagements, published articles, TV and radio appearances and to contact Clint with work enquiries go to his For Hire section on the Reservoir Dad website.

Song selection by our guest: Your Woman by White Town

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