oms
H
ey, Michael Keaton,
getta load of this.
That movie you
starred in, Mr. Mom
— well, your char-
acter has made its
mark amid main-
stream married mates.
On a typical school day,
David Feinstein and Ann
Abrams are awakened ear-
ly by their two energetic
youngsters in their Bloom-
field Hills home and togeth-
er set out to prepare
breakfast and send Rebecca,
9, and Isaac, 5, off to school.
Then, while Ann takes a
shower and prepares for the
day, David cleans the break-
fast dishes and sometimes
checks to see if Ann is free
for lunch.
After kissing his wife
Left: Rebecca helps David
Feinstein In the kitchen.
PHOTOS BY G LENN TRIEST
Below: The whole family
discusses chores.
Cr)
LtJ
C.f)
Fathers taking care
of the children
while mothers
go back to work
is becoming
more common.
MICHELLE MOSS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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goodbye, he embarks on his dai-
ly work schedule: grocery shop-
ping, cleaning the house,
preparing dinner and greeting
the children home from school.
A househusband for one and a
half years, Mr. Feinstein said he
really enjoys his time with his
children. He goes to their school
PTO me stings and volunteers in
the class
field
tri room by chaperoning on
s and reading to the
class. Go ing from store owner to
Mr. Mom was not a conscious de-
cision fo r Mr. Feinstein, but he
wanted out of sales and Ms.
Abrams wanted in to full-time
work, so, they switched roles.
Early retirement, you might
think? Easy carefree days? Mr.
Feinstein vehemently disagrees.
'Women work hard in the house
raising a family — anyone can
ask me."
When Mr. Feinstein began his
career ch ange, people were tak-
en abac k and he found play-
groups hard to enter. He did not
find man y men around during
the day d felt homemaker net-
works were exclusively for
women. He had no actual rou-
tine; his wife would make him
lists to follow but he never
seemed to get things done fast
enough.
Over time, however, he has de-
veloped his own
schedule and can ap-
preciate the intensity
of childrearing. And,
he said, his children
have benefitted from
seeing how well both
he and his wife can
raise them.
"All the children
want is one of us there
when they get home
from school and in the
morning, and some-
one to take care of
them," Mr. Feinstein
said.
Mr. Feinstein is one
of many — fathers
who care for their chil-
dren and do the
household chores
while their wives
work outside the
home. A growing phe-
nomenon, the number
of househusbands has
tripled since 1986 -
three years after Mr.
Mom was at your lo-
cal theater.
With the economic
decline in the 1980s and the in-
flux of women in the United
States workforce, this new par-
enting strategy has grown in-
creasingly popular. And the men
who have chosen this path say
they have grown much closer to
their kids as a result.
Jack Robinson of Southfield
said being the primary caregiv-
er for his children has allowed
him to get involved in his daugh-
ters' lives in a way he would not
have been able to in a tradition-
al setting.
"At first it was a little weird to
care for an infant — I always
thought women had that as an
internal instinct — but then I
came to realize that I was just a
new parent like anyone else," Mr.
Robinson said.
Mr. Robinson began his new
fatherhood role 10 years ago
when he and his wife decided one
of them should have the oppor-
tunity to stay home and raise
their two daughters. Since his
wife Gigi's job did not offer the
luxury of returning after a leave
of absence and his did, they de-
cided he would become the stay-
home parent.
After settling into the role, Mr.
Robinson thrived. He is now
serving a two-year term as pres-
ident of the Southfield Area
Council PTA and a one-year term
as the treasurer of Stevenson El-
ementary School's PTA. He pre-
viously spent two years as
president of Stevenson Elemen-
tary School's PTA and was the
co-chair for the Citizens for
Southfield Schools campaign for
securing school rnillage. He also
works as a classroom parent.
As one of the rare dads in the
school building during the day,
he draws much attention from
the kids, who seem excited to see
a male. He said he gets positive'
reactions from the children who
"just want to reach out for any
friendly face."
Back in 1984, when Mr. Robin-
son began his Mr. Mom role, he
said he was the only man on the
playground, but times have
changed. Any playground you go
to today, you will find dads, he
said.
A national study done in April
by a marriage counselor in Wash-
ington noted that one in five
preschool children are taken care
of by dad while mom makes ends
meet. It also proves the differ-
ences seen and felt by Mr. Robin-
son and Mr. Feinstein, who work
this role currently, and Bob
Davis, who was a Mr. Mom in the
1970s.
While Mr. Davis said the peo-
ple close to him were supportive,
many men thought he was crazy