Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the situation in Türkiye in terms of fathers looking after their children in public settings. For this purpose, natural observations of parents who came to playgrounds, movie theaters, stores, toy stores, and restaurants with their children aged 3–5 years were made in the study. Observational data were collected from 522 children and parents who came to the shopping mall with their children in Ankara, the capital of Türkiye. The study found that mothers looked after their children in public settings more than fathers did. However, fathers spending time with the child varied depending on whether it was the weekend or a weekday. Fathers look after their children more on weekends than on weekdays. In the study, it was determined that the gender of children was influential in parents looking after them and that fathers mainly looked after boys and mothers mainly looked after girls, but the children's age had no effect. These results are significant in that they show that fathers in Türkiye maintain their traditional understanding of looking after their children less while looking after their sons more than mothers; however, they are experiencing a shift toward the new paternal role during weekends.

Key words: Preschool, father-child, naturalistic observation, fathers, Türkiye.