RETHINKING FATHERS INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD-CARE - A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Most studies of fathers' participation in child care focus on fairness , or domestic democracy. What is sacrificed by fairness-focused studie s of family work is attention to the developmental tasks that adult me n and women face while building a life together. This article explores the developmental implications for fathers of their underinvolvement in child care using Erikson's conception of adult development and his emphasis on achieving generativity. We suggest processes by which fath ers may develop generativity and outline the challenges they face in a chieving it. The transition to parenthood often sets mothers and fathe rs on divergent developmental trajectories that may leave them in diff erent developmental positions. Men's involvement in child care may be crucial to keeping men's and women's development synchronous and hence to maintaining satisfying relationships. A developmental perspective on men's participation in child care may also be more conducive to hel ping fathers increase their involvement than the domestic-democracy pe rspective. Directions for future research are suggested based on a dev elopmental perspective.