When The Child Got Sick

When The Child Got Sick

II Kings 4:18-19 NKJV

[18] And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. [19] And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 

We don't know much about the husband of this Shunamite. We do know he behaved like a typical male in parenting. What's about a typical male? They are unable to take care of children. Here's a submission from a study done by Guardian on 5th July ,2013 by Gideon Burrows. " A little research into equal parenting reveals that the satisfying picture of men routinely sharing childcare is simply a myth. Those surveys are misleading at best. Men haven't taken on childcare in anything like the numbers we've been led to believe". The statistics get alarming as we study more from Burrows. " Figures from the National Office for Statistics reveal that at the end of 2012 there were just over 6,000 more full-time, stay-at-home dads looking after babies and toddlers than there were 10 years ago. Yet in the same period, around 44,000 women have stopped being stay-at-home mothers. The massive gap has been filled by childcare and grandparents, not fathers. Even on Aviva's figures, our children's grandmothers are twice as likely to look after them during the day than their own dads". 

   It may not be a proven fact, but many men feel it is effeminate to take care of children. But they believe it is manly to be the father. This is a family that had no child until the prophet gave a word. The child suddenly developed a headache. The father's reply was to carry him to the mother. Really? What he was doing was more important. It won't surprise you that the wife did not tell him when the child died. She had to find a solution to the problem. God help our mothers.

   It was her job to find the prophet and get the child back to life. What about the father? Rob Williams of Fatherhood Institute is quoted as saying, " Now maternity leave is so much longer than paternity leave," he says, "it has led to the woman becoming officially viewed as the child carer, which actually gives women less equality in the workplace".  How is that cultural expression in your environment? Would this be a pointer that women are more spiritual and more caring than men? Share your opinion with us in this matter. Good morning.