Meeting the Challenges of Intensive Parenting Culture: Gender, Risk Management and the Moral Parent

Abstract

In recent years, academics have shown interest in the phenomenon of intensive parenting, which has predominantly focused on mothers as primary caregivers. In this article we seek to move beyond approaches which invoke a maternal lens in order to consider fathers’ experience of intensive parenting in relation to their lives with partners. Drawing on data from a qualitative longitudinal study of men over the transition to fatherhood we explore men’s experiences of the benefits and challenges of an intensive parenting approach. Despite increased involvement in childcare, men appear to be relatively insulated against the demands of intensive parenting, describing the importance of autonomous decision-making over following expert advice. However, this article considers the way in which other aspects of contemporary parenting may be experienced more intensively by men, pointing to gender differentiation in risks related to a moral parenthood identity.