News
11th June 2008
 Footie
or Fatherhood?
What UK men really think about being a dad
New research carried out amongst 3,000 dads across the UK, has uncovered
the true thoughts of modern fathers, revealing that 26% of dads would
prefer a boy to a girl, dads in their 30's enjoy fatherhood the most,
older dads find it leaves them out of pocket and just 17% would have a
baby themselves if men were able to!
Colief Infant Drops commissioned the research to find out more about
modern fathers after noticing a sharp increase in calls to their helpline
from worried dads seeking advice when their baby has colic symptoms.
Rollercoaster of emotions
Adjusting to being a parent, coping with crying babies and dealing with
common problems such as infant colic means fatherhood is a rollercoaster
of emotions. According to Colief's survey, the experience of fatherhood
is best for dads in their 30's with 63% saying fatherhood is better than
they thought it would be, and 62% rushing home from work to be with their
family. Fatherhood had the biggest effect on dads in their late 40's (age
46-50) with 46% saying it had changed their perspective on life.
It's a very different story for younger dads with 28% of those aged 22-25
saying fatherhood is worse than they expected, with 1 in 10 actually staying
at work longer to avoid going home to their family and over a quarter
(27%) of young dads saying they regret having a baby.
The research discovered that the difficulties dads face vary depending
on age. For 37% of younger dads (aged 22-25) lack of sleep was the worse
thing about being a dad with lack of sex (13%) and the baby's constant
crying (12%) following close behind. For dads in their early forties,
lack of sex was also a major downside with 26% finding this the worst
aspect. Older dads aged 46-55 found fatherhood had left them out of pocket
with 43% saying the expense was the worst thing about being a dad.
Footie or Fatherhood?
When it comes to getting their priorities straight have dads got it right?
If they're watching the football on the TV, 68% of dads would get up to
tend their crying baby, 27% would ask their partner to take the baby out
the room while reassuringly just 5% would head to the pub to watch the
game leaving their partner to look after the baby.
Where
to next? | 
