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עמוד:17
Before You Read 1 Do you know any fathers who stay home to take care of their children ? If so , explain . 2 What are some of the reasons that more men do not stay home to raise their children ? Z Read the first paragraph of the following article from The New York Times and decide who the "I" is . What is his dream ? Then go on reading . Stay at-Home Dads I ' ve had this fantasy for a number of years , and while it is one of my few actually attainable dreams , I have never had the courage to make it happen . I suppose that's because I find the fantasy —to quit work and stay home to raise my four childrenmore attractive than what it would take to do it . One of the highlights of my day is to walk my three sons to school in the morning . There is an ease to those moments , and my boys talk to ... are any of us guys prepared to have our wives be the sole breadwinners ? me more intimately , with more openness than at any other time of the day . After I deliver them and head for my train to the city , still glowing from their company , the fantasy is strongest . I suspect that a lot of other men have similar thoughts , but I also suspect that we all get hung up on the same concern : How would we ever be able to do it ? Not only would the loss of income make it difficult , but how do we give up identities that rely so much on what we do at work ? The male ego is notably hefty . On that note , are any of us guys prepared to have our wives be the sole breadwinners ? One stayat-home dad said : "I feel funny buying my wife $ 40 worth ofroses with her money . " Still , men are doing it . The Census Bureau * estimated that 459 , 000 fathers were staying home to take care of their children ages 14 and under , in 1 993 , the latest year for which figures were available , and that almost "I feel funny buying my wife $ 40 worth of roses with her money . " three-fourths of them were the primary sources of care . "Twenty years ago it was almost freakish , " said Peter Baylies , 44 , ofMassachusetts , who * Census Bureau — the government department that does the official counting of the population every few years . In this case , the reference is to the American Census Bureau .
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