Technology facilitates father-child relationship<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Rapid advances in technology are robbing fathers
\nof their traditional excuse for avoiding their share of parenting
\n-- lack of time.<\/p>\n
The telephone, E-mail and the facsimile machine can be put to
\ngood use in improving communication between fathers and their
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
And some modern Indonesian families have been making the most
\nthese new facilities.<\/p>\n
\"With E-mail, my husband has a very intense relationship with
\nour children,\" said Kartini Syahrir, an anthropologist, on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Apart from child care, Kartini said middle class men had also
\nbeen taking a more active role in other domestic tasks over the
\npast five years, such as shopping.<\/p>\n
\"Our contacts with the outside world have made the division of
\nlabor more flexible,\" Kartini said. \"A virtual revolution in
\ntechnology, mainly in communications, has reached the regency
\n(rural) level.\"<\/p>\n
This phenomenon was part of \"global civil society\", she said,
\nwhich gives priority to efficiency and information.<\/p>\n
\"This has also influenced our behavior, where the transfer of
\ntasks traditionally allotted to a particular sex has become more
\naccepted.\"<\/p>\n
Kartini was a speaker at a seminar on fathers' role in child
\ncare organized by the Tiara lifestyle magazine.<\/p>\n
The magazine's Deputy Chief Editor Widya Saraswati told the
\nseminar about a recent survey, carried out jointly by the Applied
\nPsychology Institute and the Asia Study Institute, which analyzed
\n173 middle class couples who had been married for between 10 and
\n20 years.<\/p>\n
The survey found that men did a fair share of child care,
\nwhile leaving most domestic duties to their wives.<\/p>\n
\"According to the survey, men and women share in child care,
\nbut women are mostly still responsible for managing funds and the
\nhousehold,\" said Saraswati.<\/p>\n
The survey also found that mothers were more involved in
\nmonitoring their children's daily progress, while fathers
\nspecialized in rewards and punishments.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Population Haryono Suyono, in a prepared
\nspeech read on his behalf at the seminar, said new norms
\nregarding the tasks of men and women might change the concept of
\n\"manhood\".<\/p>\n
\"In child care the role of men will increase the function of
\neducation by the family. Rather than viewing this as the monopoly
\nof women, husbands must no longer feel uncomfortable in accepting
\npart of this responsibility,\" said Haryono, whose speech was read
\nby A. Mongid of the ministry's Family Welfare division.<\/p>\n
The expanding role of men in domestic affairs \"will, it is
\nhoped, occur naturally, without the emergence of rivalry between
\nmen and women, but with mutual respect, in the adjustment towards
\npartnership,\" the minister said.<\/p>\n
A noted psychologist in attendance at the seminar, Utami
\nMunandar, said there was evidence that children who received more
\nattention from their fathers developed better.<\/p>\n
Another psychologist, Dewi Matindas, said children needed both
\nfathers and mothers who were responsive to their needs.<\/p>\n
\"Parents, including mothers, often neglect children unless
\nthey clamor for attention,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The seminar's moderator, humorologist Jaya Suprana, said that
\nbecause he could not make time for children, he and his wife had
\ndecided not to have any of their own.<\/p>\n
They have adopted many orphans instead.<\/p>\n
\"This way we show our sense of responsibility to
\nhumanity...orphans also have a right to child care,\" Suprana
\nsaid. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/technology-facilitates-father-child-relationship-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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