Importance of Father Involvement

The father’s role in a child’s life is often looked over as not important or insignificant. There have been several studies however that proves this thought wrong, father’s involvement is extremely important and beneficial to the success of a child. John Gottman, Ph. D. talks about the important role that fathers play in the life of their child in his book Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child. He specifically talks about the benefits of father involvement to girls and boys. The benefits towards girls are; they are more likely to have academic success, have positive relationships with males in the future, and less sexual promiscuity at a young age. While for boys they give them balance between assertiveness and self restraint, abilities to delay gratification, and self control. These are just a few of the things that Gottman says about father’s positive influence on the life of a child.

Now to take a different non-secular side to the role of the father for a minute, in the October 1987 LDS conference President Ezra Taft Benson spoke on fathers in his article called, To the Fathers in Israel. He states that the role of a father is an eternal calling from which one is never released. He goes on to talk about that as fathers in Israel, they have a great responsibility to provided for the material needs of their family and to have the necessary supplies saved in case of emergency. If all fathers were to take this role seriously and provide for their families we would have a lot less pain in the home. President Benson ends his talk by suggesting ten specific ways that fathers can be there for their families. I would like to just mention one of those it says, “Go on daddy daughter dates and father and sons outings with your children. As a family, go on campouts and picnics, to ball games and recitals, to school programs, and so forth. Having Dad there makes all the difference.” How profound that last statement is, having Dad there makes all the difference. If fathers will just be there for their children not just in the physical sense but in the emotional sense as well the whole family will benefit from positive interactions. In his closing remarks he says “…that fathers can do so much for the salvation and exaltation of their families” now we just need to help fathers realize their importance.

To move back to a secular source on the Involvement of Fathers, authors say, “The more that fathers are involved with their children, the more satisfied they are with their lives, the closer their ties with their communities, and the more connected they are with their families.” From this source we learn that fathers’ involvement not only benefits the child but the family and community. The amount of involvement a father has with his child depends on many factors. We learn from this text again, that fathers who begin to become emotionally involved with the child from the time that the partner becomes pregnant benefits the father and child for a life time. When bonds are formed from the very beginning there is a connection that will always be there between father and child.

By Miss Anna