The implication of that

So many things happening in the first pannel ^^
"Oh look, they're so feisty already! Proud future Vikings I'd say."
"Of course they are! They're our sons after all."
"Here, take this, you might need it, one never know with your neightbours..."
"Finland, my kid does not need a knife to protect himself, that's my job!"

Is baby Finland's stroller decorated with birch-bouquet and sauna stones? Oo
Of course Sweden would chose his funny horses.
I'm not even going to comment on Denmark idea of styled stroller.
I love Norway's dedication to his favourite food.

@Nope-pala Finland giving Sweden's Baby a knife I take a a reference to Sweden and Finland dating each other's Sisters implying he is giving his nephew a toy knife.

I'm really loving everything going on in the first not-panel: Denmark and Norway happily chatting while their kids have a feet fight, and Finland going 'Baby Sweden where's your knife? Here, you can have my extra.' and Sweden not being amused by Finland handing a knife to his kid. XD

But yes, poor America; she's being a solo mom regardless whether she wants to or not. I guess that's why American women with kids, who divorce their husbands end up having less to do than while married; they were already solo moms, they just didn't realize.

Yeah, watch the Taylor Swift video "The Man", and you'll get it: @1:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAJLh9wuZ0

Sorry boys, it is exactly like this in the US in many cases. In the US it's women's work taking care of kids.

- just another childless catlady

@NaCltyGrl And along with that there's such hysteria about "stranger danger" that guys with young daughters who take care of them solo in public often get cops called on them in the US. Because people just assume they've kidnapped her. (It can happen with sons as well, but much more often with daughters.) That's seriously messed up thinking as well.

@Manabi Yeah, another reason why I am happy to live in Denmark because it isn't a thing. There is still a stigma towards male daycare workers but not as bad as other places in the world

@NaCltyGrl Oh, the message is getting received for sure.

There's just something... creepily heartwarming about Finland offering a tiny knife to Baby Sweden.
It's like... Finnish men love babies, obviously (fudge those who don't -ed.), but just show it in a... hmmm, unusual fashion.

-Here, honey, it's all yours.
-Goddammit, Finland, don't offer my kid a knife.
-Hey, don't curse in front of the kids. Anyway, it's just payback for you fu... ssing my sister.
-Well, you... fussed my sister.
-PER!!!!... sephone. Persephone, the goddess. True, that.

@DarkMage7280 Perjantai... (friday)

It's interesting to hear about cultural differences in childcare! It seems like gender roles are more fluid in some parts of the world.

@restpochard Partially that, and partially because in the Nordic countries there was a HUGE campaign in the 1970s to spread the popularity of men actually being involved with their own kids.

guys why are the comments full of people sending paraghraps for nursing and online classes??

@SATWfan101 bots?

Giving knives to children is a no no

Helpp finland giving babies knives-

@Gnomon
@FunkyP0P
@Dorsai
@tigercub123
@AmericanButterfly

The comic is talking about the inequality that is still out there, not how far we have come.

Here's some research from the u.s.:
-
The Fundamental Role of Child Care in Supporting Women , 2024
https://archive.is/FiiuE
https://web.archive.org/web/20250310104746/https://www.ffyf.org/resources/2024/04/the-fundamental-role-of-child-care-in-supporting-women/
-
Millennial Men Aren’t the Dads They Thought They’d Be , 2015
https://archive.is/V4a42
https://web.archive.org/web/20250310105203/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/31/upshot/millennial-men-find-work-and-family-hard-to-balance.html
-
Women more than men adjust their careers for family life , 2015
https://archive.is/9A0KX
https://web.archive.org/web/20250310110449/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/10/01/women-more-than-men-adjust-their-careers-for-family-life/
-
Gender Reveals: Data Shows Disparities in Child Care Roles , 2023
https://archive.is/Ud3bO
https://web.archive.org/web/20250310104531/https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-05-11/gender-reveals-data-shows-disparities-in-child-care-roles
-
Has the pandemic shifted traditional gender roles in childcare? , 2021
https://archive.is/cyKwj
https://web.archive.org/web/20250118155259/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/has-the-pandemic-shifted-traditional-gender-roles-in-childcare#What-worked-best
-
The Child Care Crisis Is Keeping Women Out of the Workforce , 2019
https://archive.is/UFf3N
https://web.archive.org/web/20250115051408/https://www.americanprogress.org/article/child-care-crisis-keeping-women-workforce/
-
An article with a bunch of studies I don't have the time to archive and link each one.
How Same-Sex Couples Divide Chores, and What It Reveals About Modern Parenting
https://archive.is/t1q8l
https://web.archive.org/web/20250114063158/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/upshot/same-sex-couples-divide-chores-much-more-evenly-until-they-become-parents.html

Nobody is saying it's all still the 1950s out there in the u.s. Of course it isn't. This comic also isn't about every single father in the u.s. Of course some will be doing more work than others, and some will be doing more work than the moms. This is about "fathers in general who live in the u.s." since no one can interview and follow up on everybody.

The point is how much further people still have to go and how many people think we're done, claiming we don't need feminism anymore, and that the fight is over. That is near-sighted. You cannot claim something is true based on your own personal singular experiences and opinions.
Men are doing more at home (2025). Great. Keep doing it. There is still a very long way to go including in so-called 'progressive' countries like the u.s., which is the entire point of this comic. You definitely don't get gold stars for moving the standards by an inch. And you really don't get anything when women have been bearing the entire workload for centuries on top of that, and then you go further into asinine territory by dismissing that workload. It is blind and willful ignorance like (some of) yours that leads down a winding rabbit hole to bitter resentment of women and misogyny. Such as in your country right now with men being the largest voting group for your idiot in chief. (and AmericanButterfly, stop giving men in general credit for literally doing what they're supposed to be doing when they're fathers.) Check yourselves.

Women aren't going out with their children and babies for a stroll like the dads are and then giving themselves credit for doing their job like you are doing. Moms have to take their children everywhere, to the doctor's, to the store, to their job, their dentist, etc. since they are the ones taking on most of the workload.

We're talking about the u.s.. On the international scale including the u.s. everyone knows (if they pay attention and have been alive for more than two seconds) women do most of if not all of the childcare work. Some of you seem to miss that. If you're not a troll and you're older than a teenager, how have you lived this long without realizing this?

So do you have any idea, any inkling of an idea on how utterly ignorant and full of yourselves you sound right now? It was embarrassingly easy for me to find and look up this research. But like a woman, I did the work for you

'@crestfire' So....you did all that research, and did all that writing, so you could respond to some throwaway comments on a months-old comic on a nearly-dead webpage? Just so you could feel superior for a few seconds?

Juuuuust like a woman, yep. :-D

'@crestfire' That was an awful lot of research to do in order to respond to some throwaway comments on a near-dead comics website so you could feel superior to some guys for a few seconds.

Just like a woman, indeed. :-D

I'm thinking about the park by where I live, and mostly it's women or very rarely couples with strollers- and if a couple, the woman is always pushing it. Sometimes you see a dad walking with his kid holding his hand or dad and kid on bikes, but I think I do see women with the kid far more often. If I see a man at the park, it's almost always with a dog and by himself.

@Leila Same here, really.

@Leila
Yes, and friendly women will walk up to the man pushing the stroller, and say, "Aww, are you helping out your wife today?"
"Uh... no, strange lady, I'm PARENTING MY CHILD, like a FATHER. Who are you to decide what is my 'wife's job'?"
(This happens so often it's a meme by itself).

Most discrimination against women... comes from other women.