“The family has nevertheless evolved significantly” estimates sociologist Jean Viard

In the debate which opens on the notion of fathers’ duty, the sociologist Jean Viard recalls that a family is no longer associated with the old model of the father (authority) and the mother (care). We should start by stopping talking about “nursery” school and instead saying “early childhood” school.

Is it desirable to establish a duty of visitation for fathers in single-parent families? The head of state’s interview with the magazine She sparks a wide debate around this question. Emmanuel Macron evokes a duty of visit, monitoring, education, continuation of the parental project beyond the couple. The view of sociologist Jean VIard.

franceinfo: Is it up to the State to govern the organization and structuring of the family?

Jean Viard: I don’t think things work like that. The family has profoundly changed: 63% of babies are born outside of marriage, a third of families are blended. We are in a completely new family model, discontinuous. We have romantic adventures before the age of 30. We often have a baby around the age of 30, then a new situation arises around 40, etc. Wanting to bring us back to a traditional family mold – which is somewhat reminiscent of the slogan a dad and a mom – made me jump a little. What is very important is that the child belongs to a loving family. This can take the form of a man-woman couple, a homosexual couple, a single mother supported by her own parents or brothers and sisters. Let’s be a little realistic about current practices.

What could we say, then?

So that the State sends a strong signal, let’s stop talking about “nursery” school. We are one of the last countries to establish maternal responsibility. Let’s talk about early childhood school. We are not going to return to the traditional family. We must indeed protect mothers: there are 1.7 million single women living with children. Half of the childcare time is now provided by grandparents. Couldn’t we encourage the geographical proximity of generations? And this goes both ways: if you are alone in social housing, have the right for your parents to be next to you; At first they look after your children and then you will visit them in their old age. The State does not have this geographical thought of solidarity, this geographical thought of the social because it always considers that a family is a dad, a mom and two children in a four-seater car. We have to get out of this model.

Family associations welcome the idea of ​​providing relief to single mothers, but wonder about how to force a father, who does not want to, to see his daughter or son. What about the father’s place?

It has profoundly evolved because before, the father symbolized authority and the mother symbolized care. Should we want to go back to the 1960s? The current atmosphere makes me think of what happened in May 68, that is to say a rise in traditionalist discourse, as if this could unite society. Rather, let us support the changes, the new ways of life. Let us adapt to the modern family which is a discontinuous family where there is a lot of love. There are plenty of single moms who are completely brilliant, there are plenty of couples who, even if they no longer live together, do not place the children in a violent space. Domestic peace must remain the first guarantee for children, and the real question is to free the desire to have children in society.