Indian Dads Are Breaking Stereotypes By Being Actively Involved In Their Children’s Lives

Parenting is a team effort. There is an old African proverb that says, “it takes a village to raise a child”. As India progresses, we are seeing parenting norms change – no longer are women supposed to be the sole caregivers. Today, dads are shifting away from concentrating only on their jobs to being more involved in every aspect of their child’s life – be it helping with homework, making the perfect omelette for breakfast, or taking time off from work to spend time with their children.

Inspired by the fact that the male emperor penguin takes on an equal share of parenting responsibilities, Flipkart launched a unique campaign called #PenguinDad, as an initiative to celebrate human fathers who are not just defined by their jobs, and who choose to be involved and spend quality time with their children.

The campaign kicked off with a short film, then extended to a unique initiative on LinkedIn – giving it an unexpected makeover. Fathers across the globe, from all walks of life began celebrating the most rewarding job of all – spending time with children – by changing their professional display picture to one with their child. These dads weren’t shying away from showing that the most important designation to them is that of being a dad.

The impact of #PenguinDad extends to not just the family but the society as a whole. Kids learn to appreciate gender equality at a young age and having both parents closely involved in their development has a positive impact on their mental and emotional well-being too.

So if you’re a proud #PenguinDad all you need to do to join the movement is:

• Change your LinkedIn display picture from the current one to the one with your kid.
• Post the status message on your LinkedIn profile – “I am changing the SMALL picture to help change the BIG picture. I am a #PenguinDad”.
• Tag other dads in your network and ask them to be part of the change too

Let’s join the initiative and inspire others too.