Fatherhood Importance

     I was asked to look up some articles about the importance of Fathers in the home. I was then supposed to find 5 things that were important and write about them. Here are some of the things that I wrote about.

I chose two articles one entitled The Importance Of Fathers According to Science

The second was called The Important Role Of Dad

Why and how are Fathers important?

Both of these article talked about similar things, the five points I will focus on are as follows.

1.     Fathers are important to the emotional well-being and happiness of their children.

Some benefits talked of in the article “The Important Role of Dad” of having an affectionate, supportive, and involved father in the home are: enhance children’s cognitive, language and social development, academic achievement, a strong inner core, sense of well-being, good self- esteem and authenticity. It is important to notice that these things come from an involved father; simply having a father will not necessarily bring these results. Having a father helps children feel secure and safe. There is certainly a sense of security when you have a father.

2.     Fathers influence children’s relationships.

In the article “The Important Role of Dad” it expressed that a child’s relationship with their father can affect all of their relationships their whole life. It talked of how girls look for men who follow patterns that her fathers had. So if a father is loving, caring and encouraging, she will most likely look for a spouse with similar qualities. However, if the father was distant, emotionally unavailable or mean, a girl will often be drawn to similar men, because it is what she is familiar with. Boys on the other hand, they tend to model themselves after their father. They closely watch all that the father does and look for approval in all actions. They imitate those actions they see as successful. So if the father is controlling, abusive, and dominating, those are typically the behaviors the son will model in their lives. If the father was kind, loving, supportive and protective, the boys will most likely copy that.

3.      Children with Fathers are less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol or do jail time.

In the article “The Importance of Fathers According to Science” it talks about the statistics of drug and alcohol abuse. They sited a report that showed even after controlling for community context, there was still significantly more drug use among children who live in father-absent homes. I feel like part of the problem is also the fact that there is no father example. Fathers are often heroes to their children, without that guidance it is often easy for children to follow the crowd. Higher statistics of children without a father present are likely to do jail time, compared to those who have a father at home.

4.     Children with Fathers are less likely to live in poverty.

In article “The Importance of Fathers According to Science” also reported that 44% of kids in mother only families lived in poverty, compared to 12% who lived in homes with a married couple. Another statistic said that 47.6% of those without a father lived in poverty, over 4 times the amount of married couple families. As fathers are meant to be the providers, it makes sense that without that protection and care from a father, families would suffer.

5.     Children with Fathers do better in school.

In that same article it said that children that had highly involved fathers were 43% more likely to receive A’s. Father absent homes were 2 times as likely to repeat a grade as students with a father at home. Often fathers will help children with school, read to them, and help encourage them to want to succeed. Mothers also do this, but without the support of a spouse, the time and energy are a lot less available.

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