Questions:1. According to Joseph Pleck, how did the role of fathers change in the United States over time? What are the expectations about fatherhood today, both according to the article and based on your own observations?2. According to Francine Deutsch, why do couples with children decide to work alternating shifts, and how is that decision related to their social class status? How does these families' division of labor compare to their gender ideologies? Would you select an alternating shift arrangement for your family?3. According to Dorothy Roberts, what are the societal forces that discourage family participation of Black fathers? What elements of Black fatherhood led to the creation of the myth of the Absent Black Father, and what patterns of Black men’s behavior contradict this myth?

In the chapter “American Fathering in Historical Perspective”, Joseph H. Pleck stated that there has been greater insistence of greater father involvement and support for fatherly roles in society, but the actual changes in the roles of fathers has been slow. Mothers are still the one doing more child care and housework. The role of fathers has changed over time as in the 18th and early 19th century, the father was seen as the source of moral teachings, instructed children of worldly prospects, and had close connections to their children especially with sons. In the early 19th to mid-20th century, there was a change in parent-child relationships as the mother assumed a stronger role while there was a decrease in paternal roles; the mother was seen as the natural caretaker of children and the father was seen as solely the breadwinner. In the mid-20th century during the World War II years, there was also a shift to the father as sex role model and a good influence in defining masculinity; thus, there was a difference in the way fathers treated sons and daughters differently. The present encompasses both the 19th and early 20th century father role in which fathers have a more often passive role in the rearing of their children. However, this present father model is more involved and egalitarian than those previous dichotomous roles; there are expectations of fathers to heavily impact and aid in the development of the child both economically, socially, and psychologically. The other previous father models also influence our present father model today in that they are still the sex models and the moral overseer, however, the expectations are that there is a much broader, complex role than just those models in the new father roles. I agree with such expectations about fatherhood. I think fathers today are much more involved with their childrens’ lives and encompass a broad set of rules in their relationships.
According to Francine Deutsch, the decisions of couples with children to work alternating shifts is closely related to their social class status, because this phenomenon occurred among blue-collar couples in which husbands shared he care of their children by working different shifts than their wives, so that the couple would not have to pay for childcare and allow both parents to contribute their income. Furthermore, occupations that rely on shift work are predominantly working-class occupations. These arranged work shifts become a solution for a growing number of dual-earner couples, in which the fathers are taking on responsibilities that were unthinkable before their generation. These families’ division of labor compare to their gender, because even though there were households with equal division of parenting, more families had unequal division in which the mother hand the vast majority of child care. Other reasons for alternating- shift parents is to inculcate their children with their own values instead of leaving it to paid childcare, which may not be the best available on a middle class status. I think an alternating shift arrangement for my family for the same reasons mentioned, but especially for monetary reasons, if it is feasible for the parents to accommodate this type of work schedule then I think it would have to be done. However, if I had to incorporate this type of lifestyle into my family, then I would try and set aside time in which the whole family could be home and could be spent in each others’ company.
The societal forces that discourage family participation of Black fathers according to Dorothy Roberts is chronic poverty- due to the stresses and dislocations caused by unemployment and little financial advantage- and imprisonment- which separates the Black fathers from their families. Furthermore, the racial association of Black men to fatherlessness automatically brands fatherlessness as a depraved condition and offers a convenient explanation for Black people’s problems. Dorothy argues that the absent Black father stands in contradistinction to the ideal of father as breadwinning husband and that it is a man’s failure to marry or remain married that creates problems linked with fatherlessness. However, there is also involvement of Black men in the lives of their children and stay closely tied to their children even when they are not married to the mother and are unable to provide financial support. The absent Black father is condemned by this marital and economic status.