The modern man.

The man was always in days gone by the bread winner who went out to work to bring back the bacon as it were while the woman stopped at home, looked after the kids and kept house.

In the 1950's this was always the stereotypical image of the man coming through the door with trilby hat on and suit having finished a good days work while his wife put the dinner on the table for him.

However those days are a memory as the advent of women's lib has made women in some respects equal to men though there still remain issues such as women doing the same job as a man and yet receiving less pay. In the Islamic world the role of women is a controversial subject and then there are still those men who think it is still their traditional role to go out and provide for their family.

Regarding the role of men going out to work while the women stay at home and keep house and look after the kids I have nothing against that if that is what a couple want to do. However in this day and age perhaps in response to women being equal to men it is not unheard of now for men to do the role that women only ever did.

That is men being house husbands, keeping house and looking after the kids while the woman is the main bread winner. Some men still find this hard to come to grips with especially the dyed in the wool men who consider doing house work and looking after the kids unmanly as it were but that to me does not give us men a good image in 2016. In this day and age if men cannot have quality time with their kids, push a vacuum cleaner over and be more emotional than a modern man you are not.

It is said that if a man is like that as described in the above paragraph then he is in touch with his feminine side. Again that statement pre - supposes that men do not have an emotional side and that is clearly wrong. Another stereotype is when someone says 'Man up'? Does that infer that all men have to be brainless Neanderthals with no brain, do we say 'Woman up' when tough situations present themselves - no again the image presented here is that men have to be tough and rugged when with many men that is clearly not the case. Being a geek you can still be a man and be proud of what you are who can go on to have kids and a wife.

So in some cases the perception of what a man is and what a man should do for a living has changed - again however in some circles there will always be resistance to this concept. For example a man being a nurse a role only women used to do has been accepted now and women say being an electrician is also accepted too.

I think as we go forward into the 21st Century all that has come about for both men and women is good regarding the changes in habits for both men and women. However there still remains much work to be done for both men and women in terms of how both are perceived and what their roles should be in wider society.

I have been a single dad myself bringing up my daughter and I can tell you there were good times and bad. My daughter is now grown up working as a dental nurse and has given me two lovely grandchildren, a boy and girl.

The reason I became a single dad was because my partner at the time was suffering some kind of mental illness which when she was ok was fine and other times when she lost her temper it was like a demon had possessed her.

I don't know if she suffered with bi - polar but she never would go and get help and it seemed no one in the medical profession seemed willing to help her. So unfortunately we split and I was left as a single dad bringing up a 10 year old daughter.

It was only natural that my daughter would miss her mother but I thank God I had my mother and father in the background who looked after my daughter while I worked and went out at the weekend.

The times I spent at home with my daughter were good times and I had quality time with her taking her out to the cinema for example. I took her to soccer practice and she played for a local team called Withymoor and she was a great player and became captain of her team.

The times I was at home I certainly was a house husband as I cooked, kept house and also took pride in my garden back and front.

It was fairly unusual for men to be single dads at the time when I was doing it and probably to be house husbands too but maybe people like me were blazing a trail for other men to follow and to show there is nothing unmanly about house husbanding and being a dad. If anything it takes more of a man to face your responsibilities like raising a child when the mother is no longer present as many men run from this.

So thats my story really just to illustrate my belief in the theme of the modern man and all that that entails.