the Importance of Fathers

 You all probably have heard me say it before but my dad means the world to me. So I would like to spend today talking about the importance of dads, fathers, papa, or whatever your all call that amazing male role model in your life! I personally have had bad days and good days, and I think many if not all of you are in the same or similar boat, but it never mattered because I knew and still know that my dad would and will be there for me, to tell me I was and am strong enough to make it though whatever it was or is. I hope to be able to show my passion and belief that having a present and interactive father can and does make a very large and positive impact on a child's life.

Something that I really value from my childhood was my time with my dad. The majority of our time spent together was always him, my siblings, and I working side by side and very little talking. It was hard work usually washing calves or fixing fence that the elk blew through but I was able to watch him do something that he loved and he included his family in it. This is something that I feel is becoming less common and I feel like it is negatively impacting children and families. Working side by side is something that once was a staple in every home and now is rarely found. Now it is common for children to go days with little to no interaction with theirs dads or parents for that matter. It is odd for me to think that such a core part of my childhood what once was the norm of America, especially with the early settlers is now almost completely erased from the common childhood.

Something that I have found extremely intriguing is the information that fatherhood.org has gathered. There team of researchers have found some interesting things when researching the affect of absent fathers in homes. One that stood out to me is children without a present father are four times more likely to experience poverty. The next shocking one that really starts to tug those heart strings is that infants are two times higher risk for mortality. This is one that never would have occurred to me, I mean infants rely on their mothers. But who do the mothers rely on. Recently I had the opportunity to watch my sister become a mother and to watch my brother in-law step up and almost predict her needs. I think that predicting part goes back to reading non-verbal cues that we talked about last week but it was a something almost instinctual in both of them. This is actually something that another one of the studies found on fatherhood.org. They have found that when a a father is able to be present in a Childs life and able to take on the role of father that they are less likely to experience depression. The next two findings are also something that I find to go against what media shows. They have actually found that by being an engaged father and being involved with raising a child that they are less likely to abuse substances and are also less likely there will be domestic violence in the home. My last bit of research that I want to mention in this blog is on how having a present father whether biological, step or adoptive actually affects the mental health, the self confidence, and self respect children have for themselves. When a child has a father figure they are seven times less likely to become teen parents, two times less to suffer from obesity, and less likely to end up going to prison or commiting a crime.