Emergence of daughters as caregivers
Blog post written by Nazia Tabasum A
“Parenting” is a widely used term these days. People are prioritizing, implementing and sharing the tips and techniques for becoming better parents.
At a certain period, those kids become adults, and are responsible for taking care of their aging parents. This caregiving is similar to parenting in all major aspects, but gets differentiated in terms of specific gender roles.
This blog post is not intended to discriminate against the efforts made by the sons and their wives who play a crucial role in being primary caregivers.
But, this post is to shed a spotlight on how married daughters are also getting the liberty to equally share the responsibilities of their aging parents.
Recently, I came across an impactful short film, “Mu Dikhai” produced by MumToBe and V Seven Pictures.
The story depicts how a father realizes the value of his daughter. When he loses the ability to speak due to aphonia disease, his married daughter takes care of him and helps him recover from his illness.
He feels guilty now for getting upset when his wife gave birth to a girl child. He apologizes to his daughter for not welcoming her birth and now gives her the “Mu Dikhai” present (baby’s face revealing ceremony) which he failed to give when she was born.
Specifically, I liked the scenes such as that daughter willing to take care of her parents, their hesitation to stay at their daughter’s place, and mutual understanding from their son-in-law regarding this matter being portrayed realistically.
In general, parents equally share and manage the responsibilities while taking care of their children.
But when it comes to their caregiving, they prefer to stay with their son’s family rather than being with their married daughter’s family.
Although in certain situations, this might not be their choice, they still bound to follow society’s traditions.
Contrary to societal expectations, there has been an increase in the number of daughters in recent years who are taking care of their parents post their marriage.
While daughters are changing the norms which are set by default, their husbands and in-laws’ families play a pivotal role by providing major support in this regard. This understanding and supportive environment helps the daughters to handle the dual family responsibilities efficiently.
In brief, society should also seamlessly welcome this changing trend and accept the perspective that caregiving of parents is not only subjected to their sons, but daughters can also equally contribute to change their family dynamics.