CYP Now - Analysis: Childcare Strategy - Fathers are still being stereotyped

The Government's 10-year strategy for childcare has been widely praised as a step forward for parents balancing home and work responsibilities. However, fathers' groups have claimed that policy-makers are still letting men down. Jo Stephenson reports. In the world inhabited by Janet and John of the children's educational books popular in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, parental responsibilities were clear-cut.

Dad washed the car and went to work. Mum cleaned the house and made dinner.

But this portrait of family life is long out of date, and just as the Janet and John series has been relaunched to reflect modern life, the Government has been forced to develop policies that cater for the changing needs of society.

The concept of dad as sole breadwinner and mum as housewife and sole childcarer has crumbled, and this is reflected in the Government's 10-year strategy for childcare, which promises more choices for parents balancing work and family life.

Yet fathers' groups claim policy-makers are still behind the times.

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