महिलाओं को असली समानता तभी मिलेगी, जब पुरुष भी उनके काम करने लगें, जैसे मैं कर रहा हूं…….

When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resumed her office after the birth of her baby girl Neve, her partner Clarke Gayford chose to become a stay-at-home father. He is the primary caretaker of their little one and has no qualms about it. In fact, the couple is being touted as the role models of gender equality and progressive society.

Often being referred to as New Zealand’s First Bloke (First Man), Clarke is a television presenter by profession but put his career on hold to raise their baby. He does intend to return full-time to his work. However, for the time being, he has set his priorities differently. In a recent interview with the UK magazine Grazia, he gave a peek into his life as a stay-at-home parent while the mother of his daughter leads the country. He told the magazine, Shes running the country, I’m holding the baby. How many men can do and say this with pride? Well, Clarke obviously does!

Like any parent, he realizes that the responsibility of raising a child is huge and one has to remember every tiny detail as cleaning behind the baby’s ears. If he doesn’t do it, then nobody will. At the times when parenting exhaustion takes over, Neves cheeky gummy smile in the mornings gives him a fresh infusion of energy to do things over and again.

Every day, Clarke takes Neve to the Parliament and meets other stay-at-home dads who are in the same boat and are quite happy about their parenting job. While he admits that parenting is much more than a job, he believes he may consider it as the best thing he has done when he reminisces these days.

Recently, he accompanied Jacinda to UN General Assembly Meeting in New York and held the baby throughout the session and her speech. The couple had once again earned applauds for setting a great example of equal parenting.

Understandably, the new dad hasn’t had a full sleep night or a moment of peace after the birth of the baby. He often tweets about his hilarious parenting experiences which resonate with all parents across the world.

(Text Source: Daily Hunt)