What Is Lemur Parenting & The Role Of A Father?

After waiting for a period of 9 months, as soon as the little one enters the world, both, the mother and father are excited and nervous in terms of offering love, care and protection to the little one. With the overwhelming emotions, the parents set out on a mission to provide nothing but the best for their infant. Unlike earlier times where only the mother was loaded with the responsibility of nurturing the child, today, fathers have taken up on the responsibility on themselves too. Both the parents play an equal, yet an important role in bringing up the child. This trait matches that with the Lemurs. Yes, I am talking about those cute animals that have inspired the humans (read fathers) to care and protect their infant.

Lemur Parenting

Lemurs live in a close knit group, usually consisting of the mother, father and young ones. Like humans, lemurs engage in allomaternal care, meaning others besides the biological mother participate in caring for offspring. In lemur families, apart from the mother, the father and siblings pour in help to care for the newborn, while in humans care giving responsibilities extend towards other family members, such as relatives, teachers, baby sitters and so on. In humans, when men marry and have children, their levels of male sex hormones often decline. Scientists think this could be because androgens, such as testosterone, are commonly associated with aggression and mate competition, and could therefore impede dads' abilities to bond with and care for their children. A new study has shown that male lemurs' androgen levels actually increase as they engage in child care behaviours, which may instead be linked instead to protective parenting. This hormonal change in lemurs provokes an active participation from the fathers towards child care responsibilities.

Role of a Father

The role of a father has now extended beyond being the bread winner of the family as he too now participates actively in raising the child as equally as the mother. Fathers do not shy away from nurturing activities such as feeding the child, playing, putting him/her to sleep or even changing diapers, which in turn helps them bond with the child more. When men become fathers, their ‘protective’ androgen hormones reduce, which means they become less aggressive and more nurturing towards their infant.

Know : Kangaroo parenting For Premature Babies

There are times when mothers are too exhausted from looking after the child and fathers help in bringing the balance by caring after the baby, which allows equal contribution of the parents towards the child. Just like a coin has two sides, here, the mother is on one side, while the father is on the other, but both the sides are necessary in providing utmost care to the infant. When father and the mother join hands in raising the child together, they end up creating a confident individual, who is soon ready to take the challenges of life.

This is how lemur parenting, a new style of parenting, which is gaining progress in today’s time, creating a beneficial impression among the humans. Adopt the lemur style of parenting to nurture and raise your child in the best possible manner.