A recent survey conducted across 17 Indian cities indicates that Chennai-based working dads have the highest participation in their child’s daily routines.Sharing responsibilities, and bringing status quo in parenthood, these...
CHENNAI: Praveen Kumar’s son loves being tucked in while listening to stories about draculas and dragons, and every night Praveen has a new out-of-theworld story made up for him. Praveen is a full-time dad, with a 10 am to 6 pm job at a digital marketing firm. His wife, Anjali, runs her own venture and works seven days a week. She can’t avoid calls and client meetings during unscheduled hours. “Once I reach home, I don’t pick up calls, or think about work, because my time at home is for my son,” says Praveen. Work-life balance is no child’s play for penguin dads like Praveen.
Inspired by the capacity of emperor penguins that nurture and raise baby penguins, the term penguin refers to dads who play an active part in every phase of their child’s growing up years. Flipkart recently surveyed 1,700 fathers across 17 cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The survey revealed that Chennai-based penguin dads have the highest participation across India in activities like going for walks and watching movies with their kids. Praveen explains that these little activities leave a deep impact on the child’s consciousness. Aditya Shah, another dad based in the city recalls that his own childhood taught him the dos and don’ts of fatherhood. He shares, “My father used to come back home very late after work, and I would hardly see him. I don’t recall spending the kind of time with him, as I did with my mother.” Aditya used to work round the clock until eight years back. He altered his work life after the birth of his son. Aditya wakes his son up at 7 am, helps with the chores at home, drops and picks him up from school, and spends the evening helping with his homework.
Another attribute of penguin dads, is their ability to be friends with their children, while their mothers are stern about discipline. “I try to be the friend in the house, especially because my son and wife have a ‘Tom-and-Jerry’ relationship. She wants things done a certain way, and while that’s important, I’m around to let him be. It’s the right balance,” says Aditya. Arun S, who works at a private firm in the city, insists that penguin dads are not breaking stereotypes, but simply understanding fatherhood better. “My dad did the chores at home, and I do it too. My wife, Deepika and I split the work. On days when she picks him up from school, I help him with homework and play,” he explains. Their daughter Samyuktha is three and is a gadget-free child. This re-quires them to give her more play time, take her cycling to parks, and patiently respond to all her curious questions. “I must be conscious to leave work stress outside my home. Children pick up their parents’ vocabulary. I’ve realised fatherhood is not just helping with chores and homework, but is also about the way we talk and behave around our children,” he shares. These fathers remind us that penguin dads are not super dads. They’re just the regular dads, who take an active interest in their child’s life, without perpetuating gender stereotypes. Penguin papas are not setting a new example but reminding fathers around the world that dads need to be on parenting duty, too.