London, June 16
How much is a dad worth? Almost 13,000 pounds per year, according to new research.
The work fathers do around the home — from being a part-time taxi driver to sports coach and gardener — save a family 12,914 pounds per year, according to insurer Friends Provident.
Dads undertake handyman work worth 5,378 pounds every year, and do domestic chores that would cost 4,164 pounds to pay someone else to do them, it calculated.
They also clock up “value” in being a taxi driver (worth 1,996 pounds per year), sports coach (828 pounds) and gardener (546 pounds). Mark Jones,
protection and actuarial manager at Friends Provident, said the figures highlighted the importance of protecting against unforeseeable circumstances by taking out some form of life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection.
“You can’t put a price on a dad’s love, but you can put a price on the work he does,” he said. “A family often see dad as just the breadwinner or a walking cash machine but if dad were unable to work, a family would soon realise that money doesn’t grow on trees. — Reuters
Fathers ‘unknown’: Fathers who fail to register their name on their child’s birth certificates should be fined, a think tank said on Saturday.
Last year, almost 50,000 babies ended up with the description father “unknown” on their birth certificates, the Institute for Public Policy Research said. At the moment, it is only the mother who has to register the birth. Failure to do so within 42 days of the birth can result in a 200-pound fine, though the penalty is rarely imposed.
The institute said fathers who are not married to the mother should be forced to abide by their parental responsibilities, and is suggesting they face similar enforcement measures to mothers.
Fathers who are married to the mother automatically have parental responsibility. Only 55 women failed to name themselves as mothers on their child’s certificates last year, out of a total of 670,000 registrations, according to the institute.
The government last week did not make it compulsory for fathers to register as part of its Child Support Bill. Institute head of social policy, Kate Stanley, said no child should be left wondering where to send a Father’s Day card.
“Requiring fathers to be registered on a birth certificate sends an important signal about the duties of parenthood,” she added. “It communicates the message that fathers have an equal role to mothers and that they must take their responsibilities seriously.”
Reuters
