Number of Stay-at-Home Dads Has Doubled in Past 30 Years

The number of stay-at-home dads has nearly doubled in the past 30 years with the latest research estimating the number of stay-at-home dads in the U.S. at 2 million.

Although there are a number of childcare options available to new parents, 34% of families said they preferred a stay-at-home parent to other childcare options. That sentiment rang true for AOP employees Erik and Robin Inlow as they approached the birth of their first child.

“My older coworkers all said the same thing: They missed the days when their kids were small or wished that they spent more time with them,” said Erik in an interview with Babylist, Inc. “Even if they did spend time, they wished they had more.”

However, deciding which parent should stay at home was a more difficult decision. In the end, the Inlows ultimately decided to break from the norm and have Erik stay at home.

“My staying at home probably put us in a better financial situation,” Erik said, while adding further reasoning that “your child is going to be one for 364 days, and they’re only going to learn their ABCs once. You don’t want to realize that you only get one go ’round with your kids until afterwards.”

Even if Dad doesn’t decide to stay home, fathers are still putting in more time with their children. According to the Pew Research Center, the average amount of time Dad spends on childcare each week (7 hours) has tripled in the past half century. Today’s dads also are taking greater responsibility when it comes to household chores. The average dad completes 9 hours of housework per week, up from only 4 hours 50 years ago.