When asked about the image of parents who raise children, nine out of ten people will think of a mother. Although dads who keep up with the trends of the times have taken on a lot of the work of raising children, compared to mothers who have established a dependent relationship with their children during pregnancy, the children are still closer to their mothers. However, don’t overlook one point – even if the child is born to the mother, the father’s role in the child’s physical, emotional and intellectual development is still immeasurable. You do not believe? Scientific proof for you! Changes in the role of fathers For hundreds of years, men have been the breadwinners in the family, while mothers have been given the natural instinct to raise children and naturally assume the role of taking care of their children. Therefore, the mother (the role player here generally refers to the mother includes grandma, grandma or nanny) is the person who takes care of the child all the time, including playing with and coaxing them to sleep. These are the mother\’s jobs. Mothers meet most of their children\’s physical and psychological needs – hugs, kisses and dependence, which are essential for children to grow up healthily. For a long time in history, especially in the industrial era, the status of the father was reduced to a material provider far away from the family. Until the 1960s and 1970s, the division of labor between men and women at work and at home was still clear. Later, as more and more women went out to work, women became more capable and economically independent, and the division of labor in the family also changed dramatically. It’s no surprise that stay-at-home dads are now almost as good as stay-at-home moms before, as moms begin to take on the dual role of providing for their families and raising their children. These changes have made men\’s role in the family awkward and left men at a loss as to what to do. The American Psychological Association observes that women\’s growing financial power makes many male family providers increasingly less important. \”As women become independent, the subsequent changes are that the birth rate has dropped, the divorce and remarriage rates have increased, and illegitimate births have brought diverse changes to the father\’s role.\” According to the U.S. Census, the traditional two-parent family model is no longer So common, the number of standard households in the United States has decreased by 1.2 million in the past 10 years. The consequence is that about one-third of the children do not live with their father. Even so, the American Psychological Association also found that in families with fathers, fathers invest more in raising children, a trend attributed to research on the importance of fathers\’ roles in recent decades. In short, researchers believe that fathers and mothers are equally important to a child\’s development, but for very different reasons. In the words of Dr. David Popnow, author and sociologist of \”Families with Absent Fathers,\” the role of a father is far more significant than being the \”second parent\” of a family. For a long time, fathers were the breadwinners and took a step away from nurturing, while mothers were the direct caregivers, but today, fathers are increasingly involved in childcare. A good dad makes kids smarter Research shows that a father\’s absence has as much of an impact on a child\’s development as a mother\’s absence. In view of the important role that fathers play in children\’s growth, researchers have looked at various research samples and found that children whose fathers are involved in their growth have poorer cognitive abilities and learning achievements.Children who grew up with absentee fathers had better academic performance and were more likely to attend school and participate in extracurricular activities. With a good father, children behave more appropriately and are more emotionally stable. Studies over the years have also found that children with good fathers are more likely to grow up to be non-aggressive, have good self-esteem and behave appropriately. Children who grow up with fathers involved are more resilient to stress and depression and are better at problem solving and adapting to the environment. Such children are relatively less likely to develop money worship or crime problems when they become adults. Perhaps more positive than these is that children with good fathers are less likely to suffer from depression. The father directly affects the child\’s future marriage. The father is the child\’s role model, and the way he treats the child\’s mother will affect the child\’s future marriage life. Studies have found that if a father respects his partner, his son will not be violent with women when he grows up. Similarly, his daughter will not be prone to encounter violent men or fall into unhealthy emotional relationships. Can you afford the consequences of being an absent father? Rather than keep talking about the importance of the father\’s role, it may be more intuitive to look at the consequences of the father\’s absence. From a financial point of view, children who do not have a father involved in growing up are more likely to become poor when they grow up; data from 2011 shows that 12% of children raised by two parents live in poverty when they grow up, while only 12% of children raised by their mother participate in their upbringing. The poverty rate is 44%. For girls, the absence of a father is likely to lead to consequences such as adolescent pregnancy or early dropout of school and marriage. Fathers play the role of physical and psychological protectors of girls. Traditionally, fathers are the image of strong men in the family. They are also seen as a wall for children to avoid external bullying and insults. According to a 2009 analysis of data from the Child Happiness Study, children who are not accompanied by their biological father are prone to bullying and neglect, and the perpetrators are often the stepfather or the mother\’s date. With the biological father\’s company, the child can receive adequate protection. Perhaps because a father brings something very different to a child than a mother brings, the conclusion seems to be that the child needs the father—and nothing more. In fact, this is not the case. Yale scholar Kyle Pruett has been dedicated to the subject of fathers. He proposed a concept of \”fatherly love need\” or \”fatherly love hunger\”, which means that children naturally need to be with their father. If a child is not accompanied by his biological father, he will look for a substitute for this father\’s love from the men around him. Whether it is social, emotional or intellectual development, fathers can play a beneficial role in promoting a child\’s development. Dads, can you bear the responsibility of being absent while growing up?
You are Here
- Home
- Parenting knowledge
- infancy
- Dads, can you take responsibility for your absenteeism?