How’s Dad Doing? The New Mental Load of Fatherhood

On this episode of MissPerceived, Leah flips the script on the mental load, shifting focus from mothers to the evolving experience of dads. Drawing from new research and hundreds of interviews across the US and Australia, Leah unpacks how modern fathers are navigating emotional thinking work-what she calls the “mental load logics”-while managing family, work, and parenting standards that have changed almost overnight. From comparing themselves to their own fathers (as anti-models or “good, but I can do better”) to wrestling with gendered expectations in their partnerships, today’s dads face a cognitive challenge that’s often overlooked. Leah explores the concept of metaparenting, the self-reflective work of deciding who you want to be as a parent in a society with few clear role models for engaged fatherhood.

Follow Leah: @prof.leahruppanner

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