Fatherhood

     In this blog post I am specifically going to talk about fatherhood and its importance. Think back to your own relationship with your father or lack thereof. How did this affect you? Was it positive or negative? What do you do that your own father did differently? The site Fatherly, gives us some advice on how to be a good father. It is not just enough to be present in your child’s life but it is important to be engaged in their life as well. 

    First, it is important to realize your role is not only a father but also a teacher. Your kids are always watching and learning from you from a young age, before you even realize. Your actions will affect or impact your children so much. It's important to be a good role model and help your kids learn how to act and behave in a good, healthy way. They learn more about life from both their parents every day. 

    Being a good father starts when they are born. Too often people can have the mentality that the mother mainly cares for an infant or toddler because they are more connected. However, the father is just as important and necessary in the child's life. Fatherly gives us some statistics on the mental development scores of children who had both parents involved versus just a supportive mother, just a supportive father, or neither parents are supportive.

Looking at the diagram above, you can see that it helps the child significantly if both parents are involved even at a young age when the child probably won't remember this stage of life. Children need their father. Being a supportive involved dad will benefit you, your spouse, and your children for the better.

    How does being an involved dad versus an absent dad affect boys and girls differently? Of course both genders need their father but different results have come from a male with an absent father versus a female. Both are not good results. Fatherly tells us about a study done with the children of U.S. and Norwegian fathers who were soldiers fighting in World War 2. Reportedly they had a harder time developing mature relationships with others as they got older. Girls are highly affected by an absent or uninterested father as well. Fatherly tells us about another study that was done that linked an absent father to the risk of risky sexual behaviors.

This study consisted of two sisters. The older had the father present and active while when the younger sister was raised the father was more absent and uninterested. As you can see the younger sister had a much higher risk of risky sexual behaviors. These are just some of the facts about how a fathers actions can seriously affect the children. I encourage you to go out and research for yourself the importance of fatherhood and the effect it has on children.

    Think back on those personal experiences with your own father or a father figure in your life. Personally I have been extremely fortunate and blessed to have an active and engaged father in my life who is always trying to be better. I feel that this has blessed me so much. With both my parents involved I feel so much more supported and I have learned so much from both of my parents. Even though we argue sometimes as parents and children do, I see emotional maturity in my father when he apologizes and tries to make it right. This makes me want to have that same emotional maturity and handle disagreements in a mature way. It also helps me know that when I have my own family I want my husband to be very engaged and involved so that our children can have positive experiences and learn important things about life from us. I hope that this has been beneficial and helps you think about your own fatherly experiences and the ones you want your children to have.

https://www.fatherly.com/health/science-benefits-of-fatherhood-dads-father-effect