每日英语：A Chinese Father’s Most Important Job

When it comes to parenting, Chinese fathers say the most important role they play is that of the family chauffeur.

chauffeur：司机，开车运送

In a survey of 500 Chinese fathers released earlier this week by communications company JWT, respondents ranked driving their children to extracurricular activities and to school first and second, respectively, as the childcare responsibilities they most viewed as the responsibility of the male in the family. More than two-thirds of Chinese fathers surveyed said they saw these tasks as their responsibilities, not their wives’.

extracurricular activities：课外活动

Fathers ranked handling doctor visits, disciplining children and helping with homework third through fifth on the list of daddy jobs.

Chinese men view parenting differently from their American counterparts. In a similar survey completed in the U.S. earlier this year, more than 80% of American fathers said discipline was their top role, with homework help ranking second.

Zhang Xiaoyan, a housewife in Shanghai, complained that driving the children is the only task her husband does at home. Men are under greater stress to support the family by working long hours, so they want “easy” tasks that don’t involve a lot of thinking, she said.

Since those long hours prevent many fathers from spending much time with their children, they don’t want to be the one to scold them for not doing their homework, she added.

“They want to make up for not being there most of the time, and they want to be the good cop,” Ms. Zhang said. “So moms are always the bad cop, which is fine because kids have a stronger bonding with us.”

The survey showed that this generation of dads think they’re more involved with parenting than previous generations, though there are still some chores they won’t touch. Less than one-fifth of Chinese fathers said they viewed changing diapers and making lunches as their job.

chore：杂务，零工    　　　　diaper：尿布

Kids have long been an obsession in China, but the chatter about family has increased this past week after the government that it would ease restrictions on its longstanding policy of restricting most families to having just one child.

obsession：痴迷，困扰

Fathers’ roles have also been featured in the media limelight in recent weeks after a reality show called “Where Are We Going, Dad?” became a hit last month on Chinese television and the online video site Tudou.

The show, which is an adaptation of a Korean reality series of the same name, takes five celebrity dads and their young kids to the countryside where the father-son duos compete against one another in various tasks.

celebrity：名人

Many Chinese moms, like Ms. Zhang, have encouraged their husbands to watch the show, hoping it will inspire them to be more active in parenting duties.

Delia Liu, head of strategic planning at JWT, said the survey showed men are getting more involved with child-rearing and responsibilities at home.

“The old perception that ‘men work outside; women take care of the home inside’ has now changed,” she said, pointing to the increased participation of women in the workforce and their rising incomes. She added that 90% of Chinese men in the survey said they thought the Chinese corporate worldwasn’t accommodating enough to fathers and their families.

“That’s changing how couples relate to each other and divide the workload at home. More men are pitching in with chores and with the kids,” she said.

pitch in：投入，做出贡献