CYP Now - Opinion: How dads can do the best for their families

Twelve months since the government introduced a new right for parents to request flexible working hours, the results of a survey by the Maternity Alliance tell a familiar story about gender roles. Only six per cent of those who responded to the survey were men. Already it seems the new entitlement for parents is viewed almost exclusively as a mother's right.

This is a huge disappointment, for fathers, mothers and children. If anything, men have the strongest grounds for changing the way they work.

Fathers in the UK are renowned for working the longest hours in Europe.

Most work more than 40 hours a week and one in three works 48 hours or more. Doing the best for your kids is being increasingly defined, whether through choice or necessity, as spending the vast majority of your waking hours at work.

All the evidence points to this being detrimental to our quality of life.

Fathers' stress levels are rising. Mothers are losing out in the workplace.

And research increasingly highlights the value of a father's contribution in raising well-balanced, happy children. Besides, if fathers in other countries manage to work fewer hours, why can't ours?

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