What will a man's role in future family life be?

[bugscufle]

A generation ago, American men in their thirties had median annual incomes of about $40,000 compared with men of the same age who now make about $35,000 a year, adjusted for inflation.

That's a 12.5 percent drop between 1974 and 2004, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project.

To be sure, household incomes rose during the same period although the main reason is because there are more full-time working women.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4837095.html

I would assume that men in their 30's are the next generations role models. I wonder what the next generation of men will be like.

The present times are the best ever for everyone. There's more technical training than ever. There is more college assistance. We now have Hope and Lifetime learning tax credits. EIC and ACTC that wasn't available before is there for those with kids. Child Tax Credit give's this generations parents more of a tax break than any generation had before. Maybe there is so much government support, a guy doesn't have to make as much to support a family. Maybe, even with the decrease, there's more money for him.

[wax]

I would suspect that a mans value twenty years from now will be quite easily defined:

Can he start a fire with a stick and a split piece of cedar?
Can he create shelter out of ruins and defend it?
Can he kill for both defense and food? Can he process what he kills and provide for hungry mouths?
Does he have the conviction required to do what must be done in order to survive?

But then that is just me!

If society holds for twenty more years... and trends continue... less than 25 percent of parents will remain married throughout child rearing. This will require a switch from males holding 51% of the financial burden to a 50/50 situation.
Far fewer children and much lonelier humans in general.

[Mac_Muz]

I am so sure there won't be men in father roles the ways things are going. The male will be used and they will make a movie called the "Germinator" To pronounc that correctly talk like you be ArNold.

Of course this will give a whole new meaning to "I'l be back"

[mike82934]

In my opinion, the fact that there ARE so many government assistance programs is accounting for the fact that the man's role in family is dwindling. While this may not be true for everyone (there are always the dirtbags who don't want to or can't be father figures, regardless of income or other considerations), I think it does especially affect lower-income families.
I read an article by Walter Williams a couple years back that discussed illegitimacy rates among black families and how it directly related to household income and quality of life. I'll find it later if you want to read it, but the general idea of it was that even in families that had both a mother and a father figure, those that drew government aid, be it a welfare check or another form of assistance, had a lower quality of life than those that didn't, even if their total houshold income was the same. I don't think this applies to just one race, though. I was raised with the understanding that the father is the provider for the family, and if you make it unnecessary for him to be the provider, what other use is there for him?
In the future, I think the father will still be the provider, but probably not to the same extent, especially if we get a more statist/socialist government (i.e. Hillary).

[humbug]

Mens roles are changing just as womans are. I don't think necessarily for the better.

Men have traditionally been the providors, and woman the keepers of the home. But with the economy and our "keep up with the Joneses" culture families can no longer make it with one income. This puts the woman in the workforce and children in daycare with providers who do not necessarily have their interests at heart.

Divorce rates are on the rise..there are legitimate reasons for getting divorced. But I have seen many divorces that resulted with the partners just tired of each other. They divorce with no thought of the affect on the children.

Divorce puts the custodial parent usually working and trying to raise the children. Heaped on this are the childrens activities..football..baseball..etc. The thought that our children must be kept busy all the time..is wearing their parents out and causes financial burden to the family many times.

Not to worry gentlemen...we as woman are fast catching up to you in rate of heart attacks. So all things are on their way to being equal.

[Funkhouser]

People look at me like I'm crazy, when I tell them my wife stays at home with our son, and we homeschool him. That was the way things were done 'back in the day' and no one thought anything of it. It was normal! Now it's anything but... ???

[AccuCast]

I see no role for the Male or Female in the future, but rather their replacement with Government operated Cloning Laboratories.

This is the entire REAL premise behind Hillaries "It Takes A Village"

[flatwater]

Well the media protrays us as dim witted clowns so picture this big tent and high wires-----------
Flatwater

[Diamon_Girl]

Well the media protrays us as dim witted clowns so picture this big tent and high wires-----------
Flatwater
That made me giggle... I think the media is right, lol, when I look at most of my co-workers...

I don't think in the future either gender will have a specific role, each will do whatever needs to be done to survive.
In the case of my DH and I, I am the breadwinner and he works part-time. He doesn't mind too much, he does the cleaning and laundry (after I taught him, tee hee) and I come home and cook dinner. It just so happened I got a job that made more than he, so he stays home in the morning to get our son ready for school and then he drops him off on his way. Right now our son goes to a charter school and they don't provide busing. We are considering having DH homeschool the year after next when our son would start high school, our school choices are bad and we hate the idea of having him attend the Guberment Indoctrination System (AKA public school) in our area.
We don't live high on the hog for sure, we have one decent vehicle and one beater. We are learning to live with less and less all the time, which is good.
Our house was free, well it does need some upgrading, but my Grandma moved in with my Mom and she gave me hers as my inheritance. So that helps too.
I hate my job, but I know I'm doing what needs to be done so we can get by and do what's best for my family. That helps keep me going.
To think that you or someone else are less of man because you aren't the one who provides financially is silly and small minded. There are many things in the home and family that need to be provided and there's nothing wrong with each doing their part and sharing the work. A man can clean the house and still be a man and a woman can work outside the house and still be a woman.

[WileyCoyote]

Man's role in the politicians' dreams of a future family life is to become less of a man. To bend his back, to become meek, to acquiesce to the subservient role that they wish to assign to him.

Many men have bought into this, and have become mindless followers and service workers, talking about their endless sports and hobbies and indulging in all manner of video games and such like to keep their minds and hands off of the things that matter, like their families and good productive work that creates something lasting - not something that, six months from now, will be obsolete. They are taught that nothing lasts, so therefore there is nothing worth striving towards or for. Their importance in the family has become nil, because a woman is taught that, because she can do all these things, she doesn't need a man.

What women and men both need to understand is that a coupling, a marriage, especially where children are involved, is a team effort, and a growth effort, and a continuous striving for upward progression and achievement. By both striving to educate and care for the children, each other, and themselves in equal measure, only then will they defeat the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality and wasteful indulgences that stultify their spirits and handicap their growth. Only then will they defeat, or at least be able to ignore, the reduction to nonentity of males in the culture.

[Danielle]

Well said, Wiley.