Do women make better mothers?

I am going out on a limb on this one and say "yes."

One of the big heated Us versus Us battles going on right now is over the balance between Nature vs. Nurture in gender, or more accurately Neurology versus Changing Behavior. 

The parenting issue (just one example of the Neurology vs. Behavior gender debate) is not whether men should help out more at home, and with the kids. We can all agree on that. But the extremes of the debate have risen to the level that indicates that men can and should be as good at mothering as women.

Personally, I do all the vacuuming, most of the grocery shopping (hope my wife isn't reading this), laundry, and cooking of suppers.  And I was there at home every day at 3:30 pm when our son came home from school.  I also made him breakfast every day for six years, and did half or more of the taking to school.  I maintain my french toast is superior to my wife's.

However, my wife discovered one of our children with a disability at least two years before I recognized it.  She knew when a child was having trouble in school, and did all the help with homework and tutoring.  And of course, when one of our kids was sick they always went to her.

Some dads are better moms than women. But the majority? I doubt it. And I'm not sure we want guys babysitting anyway.  Two other observations before you destroy me with your comments.

* This seems to be an issue with the Boomer generation, and not so much with both earlier generations and with later/ younger generations of women.

* This seems to be an unresolvable issue, and maybe moot.  100 years ago everyone debated (and passed laws) whether autos should stop and pull over over when approaching a horse and buggy. They never resolved that issue.  It, of course, just went away.  OK, now your turn. Feel free to blast away.

Comments

[Suzanne]

Okay, I'll chime in. I would have to say that my husband and I have different strengths and weaknesses in the parenting department. Fortunately, we tend to balance each other out. I don't think one style is necessarily better than the other.

When my group of friends started having kids, a lot of our dads (many who are leading edge Boomers) could not believe how involved the husbands were. Many said they barely took time off after their baby's birth, while all the guys in our group took paternity leave for at least four weeks after the moms went back to work. We all thought it was kind of sad for the grandpas.

I think my girls are closer with their dad than I was with mine, because he is there to drive to dance class, potty train, whatever. Granted, I'm the go-to person when you hurt yourself, but he's the go-to person when someone's picking you. I think my husband seems a lot more compentent than my dad or his dad, but that's because he was involved with all aspects of baby care from the very beginning. I have a hunch my dad was watching the hockey game while my mom was changing diapers....