Parenting Article Comparison: ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ and ‘Dads Army’ Essay

The following shall compare to articles about the ‘new age’ father. A ‘new age’ father is one that does most work looking after the child of the family. Dad’s Army is an article from a popular magazine written by Damon Syson that shows evidence of these ‘new age’ fathers and his view that all ‘new age’ fathers should † put down the papoose†. The other an article called ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ by Elizabeth Grice from ‘The Daily Telegraph’, that tells us there is no such thing as the ‘new age’ father and tells us that there should be more of them. The essay shall find similarities and differences between the two articles considering several factors: layout, language, and any other relevant comparisons. Firstly we can consider the layout of both articles. The pictures in the article ‘Dads Army’ surround the main article and are of cheesy ‘new age’ fathers in which there are quite a few. This is completely different to what the article in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ that only has one that cracks a joke about fathering. Another difference includes varying spaces between lines, bigger spaces in the magazine article than the newspaper article. One of the main differences includes the narrative. ‘Dads Army’ is written in first person and has the views and opinions of the writer, a man. ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ is written in the third person and less personal and direct and doesn’t refer as much to the writer, a woman’s opinions. The magazine article uses celebrities and young men to back up his opinions and evidence of ‘new age’ fathers like Jude Law and David Beckham. This is different to the newspaper article that refers to Prince Charles and unknown professionals to back up its point. ‘Dads Army’ uses much more easier vocabulary than ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ in which the vocabulary is far more sophisticated. There is also one more difference within the structure and form of the articles. ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ uses hyphens to create a perfect column where the magazine article doesn’t, a word is too big it leads on the next line. The two articles do not only contain differences, they do contain a number of similarities. The paragraph length varies in both articles however they do seem around the same length. Both articles have the use of italics, capital lettering, and rhetorical questioning. The language of the two articles are very different, ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ puts down the average father almost telling us that the ‘new age’ father no longer exists and promotes the idea. This is different to ‘Dads Army’ that puts down the idea of ‘new age’ fathering, and tells fathers to act normally. This conflict of belief allows brutal language for ‘new age’ fathers and supportive to normal dads in ‘Dads Army’ and vice versa for ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’: â€Å"smug dads†¦ just put down the papoose and get over it† and â€Å"sick of†¦ acting like they’re the Neil Armstrong of nighfeeds† These words within these quotes â€Å"smug† and â€Å"Neil Armstrong† really put down these ‘new age’ men whereas the newspaper article really puts them up there and promotes them: â€Å"Many fathers who have wiped a lot of noses (in other words been a ‘new age’ father)†¦ will feel aggrieved to be told they are backsliders† This quote from ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ really does give the feeling that being a ‘new age’ father is a good thing. ‘Dads Army’ promotes normal dads the same way the newspaper article promotes new age fathers: â€Å"It’s no walk in the park† This tells us that being a ‘new age’ father isn’t easy and it’s hard to live up to it, normal fathers just do as best as they can for their children, isn’t that good enough? ‘Putting Fathers in the Frame’ on the other hand puts down the ‘average’ father: â€Å"The slobs are back† and â€Å"appalling self-assessment†¦ for it seems his type spends less than five minutes.. with his child† So with both articles having different viewpoints and opinions we get different language for the two groups. The two articles content varies too. As the newspaper article is written by a woman, it is difficult for her to make a necessary judgement on the issue of ‘new age’ fatherhood, so relies on a number of statistics to back up her point, and uses the views of an expert Mr Parsons, executive director of Care for the Family, a family charity. This can be compared with the magazine article ‘Dads Army’ in which the main bulk of the article is in fact the writer’s view, and uses a regular father. Overall the two articles have very conflicting views of the so-called ‘new age’ father and so have very different true content. So the varying views conflict yet share the same topic- fatherhood.