More than 2,000 fathers surveyed during the Spring 2020 lockdown, 76 per cent said they wanted to work more flexibly and 63 per cent wanted to work more from home in the future.
The report Lockdown Fathers: the untold story, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that fathers spent more time with their children; built stronger relationships with them, and improved their parenting skills during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
One of the report’s key recommendations is for schools and early years education providers to communicate with and mobilise dads to help with post-pandemic ‘catch-up’ learning, building on what fathers did during the lockdowns.
Fathers surveyed also grew in confidence as parents, gained greater insights into their partner's caring roles, and did more housework.
As a result, the Fatherhood Institute has launched the Time with Dad #timewithdad campaign, which aims to connect employers, schools, parents and others who want to ‘build back’ from the pandemic in ways that take account of fathers’ caring responsibilities.
Adrienne Burgess, co-chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute said, ‘During lockdowns, fathers grew in confidence and competence, providing much more childcare and educational support. Post-pandemic, government, employers and trades unions should help them retain gains in home and flexible working, and schools should enlist dads to help in the huge educational "catch-up" programme. Through our Time with Dad campaign, we are building a space to develop new and innovative solutions.’
Ruth Maisey, education programme head at the Nuffield Foundation, said, ‘As lockdown ends, and businesses and offices re-open, employers will be making arrangements for their staff to return to work.
'We urge employers to consider policies which will improve the work-life balance for their employees, including fathers. We also hope that fathers will grasp this opportunity and negotiate the terms on which they return, for instance submitting flexible working requests, so they retain some of the positive changes brought about by lockdown.’
Here are some of the key findings in the report:
- More time together: Four out of five (78 per cent) of fathers in two-parent households spent more time with their children; 68 per cent spent more time on home schooling/ helping with homework and 59 per cent spent more time on cleaning, laundry and cooking.
- Better parenting: More than two-thirds (65 per cent) of partnered fathers reported a better father-child relationship following lockdown (rising to 73 per cent among those who were full-time at home).
- Closer relationships: More than three-fifths (61 per cent) of partnered fathers reported understanding their children better and feeling closer to them (64 per cent) after lockdown.
- Educational support: More than half the partnered fathers (57 per cent) said that, following lockdown, they feel better equipped to support their children’s learning and education. The same was even said by 50 per cent of the most disadvantaged - who were more likely to be working outside home during lockdown.
- Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage fathers in two-parent households were more likely (29 per cent) than white fathers (19 per cent) to report a positive impact of lockdown on their mental well-being, to report increased closeness with their children (79 per cent, versus 61 per cent) and to report improvement in their couple relationship from before to after lockdown.
Fathers share their views
One father said, ‘When we go back into offices, 9 to 5 or whatever, I think the time constraints and structure will come back. But I’d like to have more family time with kids as a unit.’
A second father said, ‘I’ll miss having so much time at home. It will feel strange to have so much time apart when it goes back (to normal).’
A third said, ‘I want this to continue. It feels like business is picking back up for us, but I’m also thinking I like this flexibility… I’ve been doing some thinking about that with my wife.’
- Lockdown Fathers is the fourth report in the Fatherhood Institute’s Contemporary Fathers in the UK series, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
