Why "DadMode"?

This isn’t a victory lap for dads. It’s a naming of a moment: modern dads are more hands-on at home than dads were a generation ago, and our products are built for that kind of real life.

If you’ve ever walked into your kitchen and thought, “None of this existed five minutes ago,” congratulations, you already understand DadMode.

DadMode is that switch you flip when the house is mid-chaos and somebody has to become the adult in the room. The spill. The sticky floor. The science experiment growing in the bottom of the backpack. The laundry that smells like a locker room married a campfire.

We didn’t name our cleaning company DadMode because we think dads are the only ones who clean. (My goodness, no.)

We named it DadMode because we’re building for a very real shift: our generation of fathers is more involved at home than generations before us. Not in a “helping out” way, more like an “owning it” way.

And it’s not just a feeling. The time-use data backs it up.

Back in the 1960s, fathers were logging about 4.4 hours a week on housework. By the mid-1980s, dads were at about 10.2 hours/week—more than double. 

Childcare follows the same direction. In long-run time-diary series, fathers’ childcare rose from roughly 2–3 hours/week in the mid-1960s to around 7+ hours/week by 2011—about triple. Pew’s more recent snapshot puts fathers at about eight hours/week of childcare in 2016. 

Let’s pause there, because those aren’t small changes. That’s a generational rewrite of who does what.

Now, before anyone gets defensive; here’s the honest part: moms still do more on average. Even in 2016, mothers were at about 14 hours/week of childcare and 18 hours/week of housework, compared with fathers at 8 and 10. And in 2024, women were more likely to do household activities on an average day and spent more time on those days.

So no, the work isn’t “equal.” But the direction is clear: dads are no longer living on the sidelines of home life.

Why did this change?

Because the structure of family life changed.

It used to be common for dads to be the sole breadwinner. Now it’s much less common.  reports indicate that “dad-only works” households dropped sharply between 1970 and 2016, while dual-earner families became the majority among two-parent households with kids. When both parents are working, the house still needs to run. And the only way it runs is if the responsibilities get shared more than they used to.

That’s the world DadMode was born in.

We’re building for dads who do pickup and know the pediatrician’s name. Dads who pack lunches and also disinfect the thing that leaked in the back seat. Dads who aren’t “helping” they’re participating. They’re present.

And honestly? A lot of dads are tired of being treated like participation is optional. The culture is still catching up. Data shows people still tend to give moms the edge as “default caregivers,” even while dads are spending more time doing real childcare. 

DadMode is our little flag in the ground.

It’s a name that says: this is normal now. This is good. This is real life.

Also, because we’re a cleaning company, we’re going to say the quiet part out loud: modern parenting is messy. You don’t need guilt. You need products that work.

DadMode is for the dads who want their homes to feel good. The ones who handle the mess without making a speech about it. The ones who flip the switch and get it done.

Welcome to DadMode.