The co-location of home and work in two generations of farmers: what effects on fathering practices?

Abstract

The co-location of home and work could enable parents to balance work and family life, but research has given contradictory results in regard to fathers who work at home. This article explores how the co-location of home and work in family farming affects fathers’ involvement in childcare. Interviews were conducted with two generations of fathers in seven families who have lived and worked on the same farm. Results showed significant differences between the two generations. The older generation of fathers integrated childcare into work, while the current generation more often fathers in domestic spaces rather than work spaces. Moreover, father–child interaction now takes place away from the farm as well. This study demonstrates that the significance of the co-location of home and work for fathering depends on shifting cultural and social contexts, and underscores fathering practices as relational, contingent and variable.