“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
– Jim Valvano
Fathers are incredible. They contribute immensely to their children’s development and lives. Often though, their contribution is overlooked so it’s key to highlight the important and different role dads play. A dad’s role is far more diverse and essential than being just a “provider.” Dads can be strong, supporting, loving, nurturing, playful, outrageously fun, and the list goes on. As Father’s Day approaches, let’s take the time to appreciate and show admiration towards dads and the qualities they bring to fostering a happy and healthy family.
Why Fathers are Important
Bradford Wilcox, author of Gender and Parenthood: Biological and Social Scientific Perspectives, perfectly summed up the importance of fathers in his article, The Distinct, Positive Impact of a Good Dad for The Atlantic.
The Power of Play: “In infants and toddlers, fathers’ hallmark style of interaction is physical play that is characterized by arousal, excitement, and unpredictability,” writes psychologist Ross Parke, who has conducted dozens of studies on fatherhood, including a study of 390 families that asked mothers and fathers to describe in detail how they played with their children. By contrast, mothers are “more modulated and less arousing” in their approach to play. From a Saturday morning spent roughhousing with a four-year-old son to a weekday afternoon spent coaching middle-school football, fathers typically spend more of their time engaged in vigorous play than do mothers, and play a uniquely physical role in teaching their sons and daughters how to handle their bodies and their emotions on and off the field. Psychologist John Snarey put it this way in his book, How Fathers Care for the Next Generation: “children who roughhouse with their fathers… quickly learn that biting, kicking, and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable.”
Encouraging Risk: In their approach to childrearing, fathers are more likely to encourage their children to take risks, embrace challenges, and be independent, whereas mothers are more likely to focus on their children’s safety and emotional well-being. “[F]athers play a particularly important role in the development of children’s openness to the world,” writes psychologist Daniel Paquette. “[T]hey also tend to encourage children to take risks, while at the same time ensuring the latter’s safety and security, thus permitting children to learn to be braver in unfamiliar situations, as well as to stand up for themselves.” In his review of scholarly research on fatherhood, he notes that scholars generally find that dads are more likely to have their children talk to strangers, to overcome obstacles, and even to have their toddlers put out into the deep during swim lessons. The swim-lesson study, for instance, which focused on a small sample of parents teaching their kids to swim, found that “fathers tend to stand behind their children so the children face their social environment, whereas mothers tend to position themselves in front of their children, seeking to establish visual contact with the children.”
Protecting His Own: Fathers play an important role in protecting their children from threats in the larger environment. For instance, fathers who are engaged in their children’s lives can better monitor their children’s comings and goings, as well as the peers and adults in their children’s lives, compared to disengaged or absent fathers. Of course, mothers can do this, to an extent. But fathers, by dint of their size, strength, or aggressive public presence, appear to be more successful in keeping predators and bad peer influences away from their sons and daughters. As psychologist Rob Palkovitz notes in our book, “paternal absence has been cited by multiple scholars as the single greatest risk factor in teen pregnancy for girls.”
Dad’s Discipline: Although mothers typically discipline their children more often than do fathers, dads’ disciplinary style is distinctive. In surveying the research on gender and parenthood for our book, Palkovitz observes that fathers tend to be firmer with their children, compared to mothers. Based on their extensive clinical experience, and a longitudinal study of 17 stay-at-home fathers, Kyle Pruett and psychologist Marsha Kline Pruett agree. In Partnership Parenting they write, “Fathers tend to be more willing than mothers to confront their children and enforce discipline, leaving their children with the impression that they in fact have more authority.” By contrast, mothers are more likely to reason with their children, to be flexible in disciplinary situations, and to rely on their emotional ties to a child to encourage her to behave. In their view, mothers and fathers working together as co-parents offer a diverse yet balanced approach to discipline.
What Makes Fathers Great
The list is truly endless when it comes to what makes fathers great, but the following five reasons are a few that stand out:
1. He Spends Quality Time with His Children
Dads know how to have fun with their kids, whether that’s playing games, sports, or chatting all day. He listens, he cares, and he takes the time to be fully present.
2. He Leads by Example
He adheres and lives out the values he hopes to impart on his children.
3. He’s Supportive and Loyal
A good dad is supportive, loyal, and his children’s strongest defender. He’s also someone his children can turn to for advice or for any reason at all.
4. He Challenges His Kids
Fathers support their children’s development by encouraging them to be the best they can be and do what they love. He also supports them through challenges that help them grow as people.
5. He Shows Unconditional Love
Unconditional love from a father is the greatest gift they can give. Love from a father is different from a mother, and both are equally needed by children.
This Father’s Day show your dad how much you appreciate him, how great he is, and how he’s impacted your life. Dads deserve all the mushy love and admiration too.
——–
Ready to start your adoption journey? Learn more about the adoption process, contact one of our adoption specialists today! Available 24/7 1-800-626-4324.
https://adoption-alliance.com/why-fathers-are-important-what-makes-them-great/
