Paper # 3
Raquel Swenson
SOC 3030
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Fatherhood
I gave a great deal of thought to the two fathers that I would interview. After many other
considerations, I chose two fathers who are at least fifteen years apart in age, with different
education levels. Both fathers that I interviewed had two boys, and I did this on purpose. The
first father is just beginning his “fatherhood” adventure, and the second father is a lot farther
along. His boys have grown and live their own lives and he is getting ready to retire. I did this so
that I could prove if educational level changed the fathers’ role over the years. The first one is
Matt the plumber who has only a high-school level education and the second is Rob the
aeronautical engineer who has a university level education. Matt the plumber is White, and Rob
the aeronautical engineer is Puerto Rican. I gave them each a set of thirteen questions to answer,
ten mandated and three extra that I saw fit.
Matt the plumber was asked:
1. How many children do you have? “I have 2 kids” How old are they? “The baby is 3 months and
the other one is four years old.” Girls or boys? “They are two boys.”
2. Were you present when your children were born? Did you wait in the waiting room or were you
in the delivery room? “Yes, I was in the delivery room for the oldest, pauses, I was scared big
time. And for the second one (big smile), I even helped cut the umbilical cord.”
3. Do you change diapers? “No, are you #$&%-ing nuts?!”
4. What sort of activities do you do with your children while they were growing up? “I play catch
with my four year old and with the baby, I’m just trying to get him to like me.” If more than one
child ask for each. Did you do different activities with different children? Girls and boys? I’m
trying to teach him to ride a tricycle. I’ll probably do the same things with both kids, because I
don’t have a lot of time to come up with lots of different stuff. And right now, they’re young.”
5. How would you describe yourself as a father? What sort of father are you? “I try to be nice to my
sons, and patient. Because my dad was the opposite of both of these. I want things to be better
between me and my sons, so they’ll have better memories.”
6. What do you think is your job or obligations as a father? “I think that part of my job is to make
my sons feel good about themselves and have a sense of confidence.”
7. What sort of father was your own father? What was he like as a father? “You probably don’t want
me to answer that.”
8. In what ways are you like your father? In what ways are you a different sort of father than your
father was? “In as few ways as possible. I try to be different in every way that I have control
over. Literally. That’s all I want to say about that.”
9. Do you have any role models you look to in thinking about? In other words, are there other
fathers you try to be like or would like to be like as a father? If so, who are they, and why would
you like to be the sort of father they are? “I notice it when I see any father who acts responsibly
toward his kids, sons or daughters, treating them kindly and respecting them as people. I try to be
like my best friend Dan’s father was when we were growing up. Dan and his father, Jack, talked
to each other like intelligent and mutually respectful individuals and I always thought that was
bizarre, because he was the only friend I had and things were so different between me and my
father.”
10. What is your occupation—what do you do for a living? What is your highest level of education
completed? Your age? How old were you when you first became a father? What is your
race/ethnicity? What is your marital status? “I’m a plumber. High school. I am 24 yrs old. I was
20 when my oldest was born. White. Married since I was nineteen.”
11. How do you feel between the breadwinner role and the caretaker role? Which is more important?
“I don’t think there’s a real division nowadays. My wife and I are both. I feel that both are equally
important.”
12. If you had a choice, would you nurture your family or nurture your career? “I would nurture my
