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How the other half lives Why Millennial Dads Matter
by WENDY SMOLEN, senior vice president, Sandbox Events, and playpublisher, PlayScience IT’S OFFICIAL: THE BATON HAS BEEN PASSED. IN APRIL, THE millennials (18 to 34 year olds) overtook the baby boomers (51 to 69 year olds) as the nation’s largest living generation, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Gen-Xers (35 to 50 year olds) are on target to pass the boomers in population by 2028. Millennials now account for more than 80 percent of new parents. This should be a wake-up call for smart marketers of kids and family products. Millennials view the world—and its goods—in their own way. In particular, the millennial dad has been a sadly neglected consumer and it’s time to readjust our thinking. At the recent Sandbox@MIT idea forum, Simon Isaacs, co-founder of Fatherly—a parenting website for dads— expanded on the ways the quiet rise of millennial dads into traditionally mommy-centric spaces is reflected in pop culture. Gone are the straight-laced
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Ward Cleavers and bumbling Homer Simpsons. Take note of the neodads on TV shows such as Parenthood, Modern Family, and Blackish. Today’s fathers are active participants in raising kids. Isaacs cited an impressive array of stats to support this thesis: • 75 PERCENT of millennial dads wanted to spend more time with their kids. • 49 PERCENT of these dads are mainly responsible for planning dates and other activities with their kids outside of the home. • 43 PERCENT are the primary decision makers for child and baby products. According to a 2012 study by Cone Communications, 52 percent of men say that they are the primary grocery shopper for their family—the food traditional mommies bought, cooked, and put on the table. The idea of women controlling most of the purchases today is no longer a valid marketing tenet. “Dads have been around for a long time,” says Isaacs. Yet only recently—and only sometimes—are fathers getting their fair share of attention as engaged parents. Two new children’s books illustrate just how far (or not) we have come in depicting the new dad. Mommy, Pick Me Up, by Soledad Bravi (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), tells the tale of a young child calling “Mommy” across multiple situations: I’m cold; I can’t find my pajamas; I’m hungry; I had a nightmare. Each page pictures the child calling, and a part of the mother being there, but never really answering. (Perfect response of a multi-tasking mom!) At the end, the child calls, “Daddy,” and asks, “Where’s Mommy?” Sure, the illustrations and examples are charming, but the story assumes only moms can parent effectively. Another book, Tell Me a Tattoo Story, by Alison McGhee (Chronicle Books), shows a dad totally engaged with his son, telling him the stories behind each of his tattoos (another typical millennial feature). Of course, the most special one is the heart that has the child’s birth date inscribed. Even better, the mom is also shown in several of the illustrations. These stories and actions, like all aspects of play, affect the way kids learn and develop. If engaged dads are the new norm, we need to portray and promote it. Research has shown that the way dads play, talk, and interact with their kids is different than the way moms do—often being more physical and using different tones of voice and less familiar vocabulary words. A 2015 study by PlayScience for TIA’s Genius