Comic Strips

Depends where on the political spectrum they are.

The number of fathers that gave me shit for taking care of my kids is rediculous. We had our kids 15 months apart and I would routinely have both of them in a public restroom for changing. The pure vitriol directed at me for doing the womens job was immense beyond measure.
On the flip side, when I would take them to the park to play, I would be acosted by nearly every mother there. There were no fathers, just mothers that would have to comment that it was great to see a father participate. I also got a lot of phone numbers that I got very embarrased about and my wife found hilarious.

TLDR:. Most american fathers do not put in much effort unless its sports related.

America is just like every other highly patriarchal society: No

Some men are wonderful dads and incredibly involved but culturally speaking American men still very much buy into the concept of “woman’s work” and included in that is women raising his kids for him

am a dad, been told I'm 'babysitting' my kids a few times.

Not in my experience. Men behave as if their contribution is either working a job to earn money for the family and/or drinking/physical violence.

I can only speak from personal experience. my father

• never changed my diaper
• beat or screamed at me more than we ever "played ball" or "had fun"
• worked me like a dog
• only gave me approval two weeks before he died
• said he "loved me" five times in my entire life before he died
• never once cared for me while I was sick

as a father myself I

• change diapers when I need to
• never beat my kids
• screamed at them only when they were caught doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous
• let them play and pay them for their work
• play games or watch them play outside
• try to support them as best I can with positivity
• tell them I love them every single day and night
• have stayed up for days caring for them while they were sick

I'm not looking for a medal, or a thank you. All I'm looking for is a bit of appreciation when they grow up and look back when they become parents.

I want to break the cycle of shitty father figures, that's all.

In addition to broadly prevalent 'traditional' norms promoted and espoused by men in many, many parts of the US, that assert that caring for a child is innately feminine...

Tons of American women also actively promote patriarchy, they'd call these guys gay and not real men, for taking care of their kids, for being stay at home dads.

So what do American fathers do on mandatory parental leave, just sit at home?

Oh, wait, there is no mandatory parental leave for fathers in the US, is there?

really puzzled by "all the gay nannies"

Damn, that’s some eastern europe type phrasing

SATW always portrays Finland with a knife, so it’s more of an inside joke and not related to this specific comic strip.

Every character is a stereotype of a country.

And those are just the female stereotypes of those countries.

Sweden is the home of the women brought home by the vikings. Big breasted beautiful blondes.

The US is the home of the women who go tanning and get plastic surgery.

Oh honey, I'm so sorry

For reference, here are the other countries:

England:

France:

Japan:

Brazil:

Not a single dad, but my wife was gone for a year when our daughter was two. I used to watch moms struggling with kids in the grocery store and no one batted an eye (GA, USA). I'd do grocery shopping with mine in the cart and keep her amused while shopping and checking out and on more than one occasion for compliments about what a great dad I was.

I love my girls and spend as much time with them as I can and do things with them all the time. Still, my wife gets nothing and I occasionally still get pats on the back and compliments on doing basic dad stuff from both men and women.

Always struck me as such a weird thing. Sometimes moms really need more recognition too, I think.

The kids make their own knives in school, but not as babies. They ski as babies.

It's a Finnish baby, knives are mandatory.

Jokes aside, I'm a Swedish speaking Finn who happened to move to Sweden for the last year of school and my teacher made a point of reminding me it's not okay to wear a knife to school.

She made quite the face when my mother told her we stopped that particular tradition about a century ago.

But still, it's something of a national joke, lol.

There's a joke here in Sweden that goes like: (With finish accent) "Boys! Stop fighting with knives! We gave you chainsaws for Christmas!"