What is a Father?
(derived from teaching Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service)
Good fathering is hard work, but the most important kind of work men can do (Pickard, 1998).
Definitions:
Fatherhood is the act of being a father, as opposed to merely "fathering" a child. Few studies have examined how men come to define their fatherhood. They are likely to view their role as fathers based on how they were fathered, their perception of what a father ought to be, their spouse's perception of fathering responsibilities, the portrayal of fathers in the media and entertainment industries, and the influence of public perception of their role. Practically speaking, the different dimensions of fatherhood would include bread-winning, nurturing, modeling, socialization of children, involvement in their children's lives, moral and spiritual development, and providing a sense of stability.
Fathers are diverse. They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors, with different backgrounds, different ideas, different world-views, different aspirations for their children, and different ways of connecting with their children. Because the roles of fathers are so diverse, we should not attempt to define a role or even to identify specific roles that would apply to all fathers or all children or all families. For example, researchers have found differences in patterns of father involvement by race. White youth are two to three times more likely to live in a two-parent family than are Black youth. However, non-resident Black fathers are nearly one-and-one-half times more likely to visit their children on a weekly basis than non-resident White fathers.
Father Absence
Father's absence, whether physical and/or emotional, is a critical problem in our country. Currently, more than 27 million children-39% of all US children-now live apart from their father. In a typical year, well over one-third of these children won't even see their dad. More than half of all European-American children and three-quarters of all African-American children born since 1975 will live some portion of their formative years with only one parent; and in the vast majority of these cases, it's the father who is absent.
Research shows that the costs of father's absence are high. Key findings of several studies in recent years show that:
- Children with little or no contact with their fathers are more likely to drop out of school
- Become involved in drug and alcohol abuse
- Girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens
- Boys are more likely to become involved in crime and violence.
- While father-absence is not the only variable contributing to these kinds of social problems neither can it be ignored.
- In short, fathers play a key role in the successful socialization of children.
- Unfortunately, even when a father is physically present in the home, he may be emotionally absent.
Three major emphases are identified in the literature on father absence:
- The impact of father absence on *intellectual or *academic achievement, *gender-specific development, and general behavioral adjustment and aggression in male children.
Beyond the emotional and behavioral consequences of father absence:
- There are striking economic consequences for the children.
- Over 65 percent of children living with never-married mothers are living below the poverty line.
- This compares with 10 percent of children living in two-parent families.
The Roles Fathers Play
The father has an important potential role at each developmental stage that his children pass through. During pregnancy and birth, the father-to-be plays crucial roles in the transition of the family. Fathers can be perfectly adequate caretakers of infants, performing most of what mothers do, and their parenting styles, often different from those of mothers, contribute to infants' physical, social, and cognitive development.
In the toddler years, the father has a role in shaping the child's gender role identity, in assisting the child to gain appropriate autonomy, and in helping the child to identify and modulate emotions.
In the preschool years, the father's presence is crucial in helping his child work through basic gender identity.
School-aged children, Fathers act as important mentors for and paternal involvement is associated with higher achievement in school.
For adolescents, fathers serve as role models, advisers, and authority figures during a turbulent time of life.
Young adult children look to their fathers for support and advice during their transition into adult roles including parenthood, and fathers find themselves in new parenting roles in becoming grandparents.
Fathers as Moral Leaders
A Spiritual Father Sets An Example
Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus… (4:16-17a)
Development of moral and spiritual beliefs in children.
- Parents as teachers of values. (Deuteronomy 6 )
-which children pass on to next generation- Fathers as models of masculinity (Proverbs 22:6)
-which children imitate becoming the source for their children - Fathers as moral guides (2 Kings 15:1)
-Establishing social, and spiritual behaviors; right and wrong ways to live and serve- Moral leadership and shared responsibility in the family, community and work
1 Corinthians 4:14-21
-Establishing what is successful, a failure and a pattern for life Biblical Requirement;
Deuteronomy 6
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
2 Kings 15:1
1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done,
14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit? (1 Corinthians 4:14-21 NIV)
"The majority of teen mothers come from homes without fathers"
What is a Father? Two Points of View
Biblical View- "Fathers as Moral Leaders"Word Meaning: Father- "Source" (the father is the child's source of identity)Development of the moral and spiritual foundation of children is passed on from fathers. Thus; good and bad conduct in society, in business or in pleasure are inherited from our fathers. The Moral acceptability of conditions of a people can be linked to how 'they" (acceptable ways / behaviors) where fathered in their generation; passing on to the
next generation (it did not kill me and will not kill them).
World View- "Good fathering is hard work" Dimensions of fatherhood would include bread-winning, nurturing, modeling, socialization of children/social behavior, involvement in their children's lives, No matter which view children that are not connected
to a father/male role model will struggle due to lacking an identity.
