Babysitters are people who get paid to fill-in for parents who are unavailable. Fathers are not fill-ins or filler. They are the real thing. Seeing fathers doing their job in public as well as private should be treated as the norm, not a novelty. Changes in Language.
Language is powerful.
Through language we communicate our attitudes, beliefs, and expectations. As long as we continue to equate the word parent with mother we are cheating fathers, but most of all we are cheating our children. When we publish parenting books, magazines, or articles that are clearly geared to a female audience, we are suggesting that men need not read them. When we send out letters asking for volunteers for homeroom parent addressed to the child's mother the message is clear about who we expect to reply. By granting fathers permission to renege on their responsibilities as a parent, we are also denying them the rich rewards of the job.