By Paul Robertson

We live in a time and culture when the importance of fatherhood is very much maligned. The media has gone out of its way to portray fathers as unreliable, silly, and spineless. Can you name even one television program where a father is portrayed as he should be? Not since the Cosby Show has fatherhood been presented as the noble calling it really is.

PART 1

There is an endless stream of research to show the significant impact an involved father has on the lives of his children. Children with caring fathers who are involved, nurturing, and playful are more likely to do better linguistically and cognitively.

Even toddlers with involved fathers can be expected to begin school with higher levels of academic readiness. These children also cope better with stress and frustrations in school than kids without involved fathers.

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The trend to academic achievement continues into the teen years. Teens are likely to have better verbal skills and do better in school thanks to fathers who stay involved. One 2001 study found that highly involved biological fathers had children who were 43 percent more likely than other children to achieve mostly "A" marks and 33 percent less likely to repeat a grade (The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children - Rosenberg and Wilcox, 2006).

The same researchers show children with involved dads are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surrounding, and have better social connections with peers as they continue to mature.

These same children are less likely to be getting into trouble at home, school, and in public. Fathers who simply spend time in unstructured play with their children will find that their children are adjusted both emotionally and socially. For example, fathers who spend time wrestling with their kids can teach them how to deal with aggressive impulses and physical contact without losing their tempers.

Fathers also teach their children the importance of achieving and accomplishing tasks which often leads to teens that are more likely to exhibit self-control and be well- behaved. In order to stay connected with their children, fathers have been required to play a variety of roles. In light of the complicated and challenging youth cul- ture our kids face, these tasks take on an even greater sense of importance compared to prior generations.

Paul Robertson is the Youth Culture Specialist with Youth Unlimited (Toronto YFC). Youth Unlimited is a faith-based charity that believes in the unlimited potential of youth. It is committed to helping them develop wholistically, both personally and spiritually, by providing caring people to whom they can turn. http://paulrobertson.ca

November 26/2009