Sticking to the formula - Daddy Daycare Episode 2

OK, so the second episode of Daddy Daycare was essentially the same as the first. We know the formula:

1. Start with a dramatic voiceover pointing out that mums do all the parenting work and dads are useless (this is the same for each episode…just in case anyone were to forget exactly how terrible men are at all this stuff). 
2. Meet the three dads who are going to be ‘knocked into shape’ – in this episode, one who’s a workaholic, another who doesn’t see nappy-changing as his role, and a third who has five children and can’t cope with their behaviour. 
3. Meet the long-suffering mothers of their children, and the all-female staff of the nursery where the men will work for a week. 
4. Light the blue touch-paper and gaze in awe as the men get everything wrong and prove that yes, men really are hopeless. 
5. Slowly, as the film progresses and the men get space to learn and practise, find glimpses of their ‘inner dad’ shining through. 

Let’s not forget the all-important ‘money shots’ though. This week there were two. One was father-of-five Grant crying his way home, realising how much he’s missed out on by dealing with his own children in too heavy-handed a fashion. The second, a moving conversation between the workaholic dad and one of the nursery workers, who had lost her child to leukaemia at the age of 4, prompting her to change careers so as to care for others’ children. The message – life is precious, don’t take it for granted, spend time with your kids rather than in the office.

So far so obvious. The Fatherhood Institute rightly points out that what’s so desperately lacking in this series is a sense of balance. We already know Episode 3 won’t redress that. Although it does hold out hope of yet more obnoxious stereotyping…one of the hapless victims looks set to be not just useless…but also gay!