I do consider that society already teaches girls parenting skills far more than boys, yes. "No, dolls are for girls, here's a truck" and so on. Boys are still (generally) discouraged from learning nurturing skills. We still (generally) also teach boys to bottle up their feelings, to fear being perceived as weak if they admit they need help, and to homophobically avoid close emotional platonic friendships with other men.
What does girls playing with dolls have to do with parenting skills ? What about boys playing with kittens, puppies, or other pets they may have ? They feed them, take them for walks, train them, do they not? Does playing with Police cars, Firetrucks and ambulances make men better parents who are better able to respond to emergencies too ? Or is that a skill that is learned by brushing a dolls hair too ?
Nurturing skills are not learned - they are naturally in humans. Mothers are no more nurturing than fathers are. I disagree that boys are thought to fear being perceived as week if they need help . If that ever happens that would be in the case of physically falling down, or physically getting hurt, etc - not emotionally. Boys also make very good close friends with other boys- like brothers - bro!
Many men have only vague ideas how to parent because they have not often been exposed to those skills until having a baby, and then their wife probably does most of the work, which she learned as a child playing with dolls, as a teenage babysitter, and from her close friends who are already moms.
Whoa whoa. Men have often been exposed to those skills and their wife's don't probably do most of the work. That may have been true back in the day when women stayed at home and men worked. But now adays, both men and women work, and women are outside of the home (and away from the kids) just as much as men are. If you want evidence of that, just look up the number of cases where mothers are seeking contribution towards daycare.
Again, it is unreasonable to say women are better parents because they played with dolls. What does that have to do with anything ? Boys don't take care of their toys or play with dolls? Spider man isn't a doll ? Doesn't spider man save lives ? The boy didn't have any pet dogs or hamsters that he took care of ? A cat, maybe ? Is it just girls who have pets ? I don't think so.
Only girls babysit? Boys don't have little brothers or sisters they look after? Are you sure about that ? Men don't have sisters or other family members or close friends who are moms ? Are you sure ?
Additionally, men rely far more on their spouse than on their male friends to provide all their emotional support, while women have a network of female friends. So, when a marriage ends, compared with the mom, the dad is left with poorer parenting skills AND less support available from his friends.
Men don't have a network of male friends? Are you sure ? Do you have any research you wish to share with the forums?
How does friends effect your parenting skills ? How do you conclude that most of moms friends are parents and dad's friends aren;t ? I know of separated parents where mutual female friends took the males side - and cussed out the female for resorting to false allegations of abuse to win over their child. You don't think that women tend to make friends with women just because they are women now do you ? Or is that a problem with female family law professionals - there will be a bias towards moms because they both played with dolls as kids ?
Yes, I'm generalizing badly, and there are wonderful exceptional men (just as there are terrible exceptional women), but on the whole, we still have a lot of work to make them the norm. I hesitate to call myself a feminist on this forum because of the anti-male perception that goes along with it these days, but this is one of the main pillars of feminism: that boys/men and girls/women be afforded the same opportunities. This includes providing boys with the skills to be capable parents and expecting it from them when they are men.
You are indeed - and have proven exactly my point. That society (or women like you) believes women are better parents than men - which is complete utter non sense.
Feminism - not even feminists agree with feminists. Some feminists believe it is to be anti-man while other believe it to be equality for both men and women.
I think equal opportunities would mean that men should be equal opportunities to parent their children as do women after a separation and/or divorce without presumptions that mother's are more nurturing then fathers just because they may have played with barbie dolls when they were kids.
Now to put a little fun twist to your argument, I think playing with barbie dolls (and all the barbie private jets and jeeps and mansions) would make girls grow up to be materialistic more than anything.