中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Dads have long been celebrated for their role as breadwinner in the family. Now the top priority of men with children under the age of 18 still living at home is the softer side of being a father -- providing love and support. |
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Many fathers these days want it all -- time with kids, promotions at work and a spouse who shares the parenting duties. But some say they would trade in their commute and office gig for a stay-at-home role. With Father's Day just around the corner, a new study surveying nearly 1,000 fathers in the United States working at Fortune 500 firms takes a look at just how hard it is for dads to balance their work and life goals. The study titled "The New Dad: Caring, Committed and Conflicted" was unveiled on Wednesday by the Boston College Center for Work & Family. Dads have long been celebrated for their role as breadwinner in the family. Now the top priority of men with children under the age of 18 still living at home is the softer side of being a father -- providing love and support. More than half of all fathers surveyed said they would consider not working outside the home if the family was able to live comfortably on one salary, a surprising change in perception, said Brad Harrington, executive director of the center. "There's a lot of new thinking," said Harrington. "But there is also an inability to let go of some of the more traditional roles that fathers have played and pick up some of the responsibilities that mothers have traditionally taken greater ownership for," he said. For example, the study showed dads did not view day-to-day childcare tasks as a top priority, leaving a spouse to do the car pooling, diaper changes and laundry. And, despite a desire to spend more quality time with the kids, after the birth of their children dads did not cut their work hours and said they were expected to do the same or more at the office, Harrington said. Most dads acknowledged the parenting duties should be split equally, but it rarely happens that way, the study revealed. That does not mean dads are not putting family first. Job security was overwhelmingly important to fathers, the study showed, with high earnings and advancement taking a back seat. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
如今許多父親都想多樣兼得——有時間陪孩子，工作上獲得晉升，妻子可以分擔養家的責任。 不過，也有些父親表示，和每日往返于家和辦公室之間相比，他們更愿意待在家里照顧家人。 在父親節即將來臨之際，美國開展了一項新研究，調查了在財富500強公司工作的近千名父親，看看父親們平衡工作和生活目標有多么不易。 波士頓學院工作與家庭中心周三發布了這一題為“新時代爸爸：顧家、盡職及沖突”的研究報告。 長期以來，在眾人心目中，父親的角色一直是掙錢養家的人。如今，對于那些子女還不到18歲的男人而言，優先考慮的是如何做個好父親：給孩子愛和支持。 接受調查的父親們有超過半數的人表示，如果只靠一份收入家里就能舒服地過日子，他們會考慮不外出工作。波士頓學院工作與家庭中心的執行董事布萊德?哈靈頓說，這是觀念上的一個驚人轉變。 哈靈頓說：“有很多新的想法。” 他說：“但在現實中讓父親放下傳統上擔當的部分角色，而承擔起母親們一貫肩負的部分職責還是有一定的困難。” 例如，研究表明，父親們并未將日常照顧孩子的任務當作優先考慮的事情，仍是讓妻子去做諸如拼車、換尿布、洗衣服等事情。 而且，哈林頓說，盡管希望能花更多時間陪孩子，但孩子出生后，父親們并沒有減少工作時間，甚至可能工作更多時間。 研究顯示，多數父親承認，夫妻應平均分擔養育子女的責任，但現實生活中卻很少如此。 不過，這并不意味著父親們不將家庭放在第一位。 研究表明，工作的穩定性對父親而言極其重要，高收入和晉升相對而言則沒那么重要。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: around the corner: 即將來臨 committed: willing to work hard and give your time and energy to something; believing strongly in something（盡心盡力的；堅信的；堅定的） be celebrated for: 以……出名 car pooling: 合伙用車，拼車 take a back seat: to be less important or have a lower priority（比較不重要） |
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