The next generation of parents have arrived, and they are Millennials. As with everything else, we can probably expect them to do many things differently than the generations before them when it comes to momming and popping. And while they may be having kids later in life than previous generations, the oldest Millennials are beginning to welcome children into the world.
Some of the differences in parenting habits will be due to cultural forces, but there’s one major economic driver, different from generations past: more Millennial moms will stay in the workforce, and be the family breadwinners. This will leave a whole generation of stay-at-home dads to raise another generation of youngsters.
Millennial dads will be putting their own spin on fatherhood, and the result of this is what’s come to be known as the “Rad Dad” phenomenon. Every aspect of fatherhood is celebrated with an array of witty new catchphrases and hashtags—but also with new ideas about what it means to be a father in the 21st century.
“Dad Topics” are popping up everywhere, from the blogs, stories, and poems of Daddy Dialectic, to regular interviews with so-called “Rad Dads” on sites like ModernDayDads.com. But where did this whole trend get started, in the first place?
Where it All Started
The term “Rad Dad,” as we now know it, appears to have originated with RAD DAD Magazine, which was founded, written and edited by Tomas Moniz, a teacher at Berklee College of Music, and who himself is the father—or should we say Rad Dad?—of three children. RAD DAD Magazine was the winner of SF Bay Guardian's Best Local Zine and Utne Magazine's Independent Media Award for Best Zine, but as of Winter 2015, RAD DAD Magazine is no longer in print…even if the rad dad phenom continues in full force.
The influence of that publication and its thinking on the modern parenting scene is far from dead. The RAD DAD zine still maintains a relatively active Facebook presence, and it is planning to eventually produce a new anthology (according to its page). On the official Rad Dad website, Tomas Moniz writes clearly about how he defines what it means to be a Rad Dad:
“RAD DAD is for radical parenting. The uncomfortable kind. The difficult kind. Radical as in not complacent, as in conscious and conscientious of our impact on our children, our partners, our environment. Radical as in taking responsibility for the privileges some of us have, whether we want those privileges or not. Radical as in being cognizant of how we challenge patriarchy (or not), how we impact those around us, how we might depend on unquestioned roles of authority and hierarchy. And then, radical as in having the courage to consider new ways of fathering.”
The Modern Dad May Be a Stay-at-Home Dad
So what defines this new wave of Millennial fathers? To a large extent, it’s their increasingly involved role in their children’s lives.
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Millennial fathers say that it’s at least somewhat important to be “the perfect dad,” and even more interestingly, the number of stay-at-home dads has nearly doubled in the last few decades. Millennials don’t feel limited by traditional gender roles, to say the least. At least 70% of stay-at-home dads do so by choice, desiring more time with their children than their fathers had with them.
The good news for businesses is that when Dad spends more time at home, Dad also does more of the shopping. Millennial Dads share a larger role in purchasing decisions than prior generations, which makes them a huge—and hugely valuable!—target market for businesses and brands to tap into.
Celebrating all Aspects of Fatherhood, Even the “Dadbod”
By and large, Millennials are an enthusiastic generation who strive to look at all aspects of life positively. So when it comes to fatherhood, no aspect of it is left untouched, untagged, or un-memed.
Believe it or not, this even includes the once-mocked “Dadbod,” which refers to a male figure of undefined muscles accentuated with a beer belly, fitting the stereotypical image of a dad who “sometimes goes to the gym, but still drinks beer and eats pizza on the weekends.” Rather than worry about a less perfect figure, Millennial dads have instead turned it into a celebratory, and perhaps lightly self-deprecatory, hashtag that can be found all across social media. The term “Dadbod” was made famous by 19-year-old Mackenzie Pearson, in her article “Why Girls Love the Dadbod.”
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Great Dad moments are celebrated across social media as #DadGoals. All that boring-but-logical fatherly advice of the type Ward Cleaver used to dispense to the Beave has been reframed for the Twitter generation as #DadThink. Yes, seriously.
The Bottom Line
Whether they are stay-at-home dads, radical dads, or even more traditional fathers, these Rad Dads are the fathers of the future.
One thing that does seem sure is that Millennial parents both expect to shoulder equal responsibility for raising their children. In a society that has, until recently, favored traditional gender roles at home and in the workplace, this new wave of Millennial fathers will face many challenges, including workplaces that might not take kindly to their desire for a better work/life balance. However, we all know that Millennials are an ambitious lot, so it will be interesting to watch how these Rad Dads redefine the meaning of fatherhood for future generations.
The G Brief is the digital magazine published by Urbaneer Creative a boutique consultancy focused on helping clients understand and engage the Millennial generation. Reach out to see what we can do for you.