The DadTalk blog features insights from dads and Responsible Fatherhood practitioners from around the country. Its goal is to start conversations about important issues surrounding fatherhood and programs for fathers today.
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America present an incredible opportunity for parents and children alike to become more involved in their community and to explore, learn, and grow alongside one another. With millions of children participating…
My parents were teenagers when they had me. An only child, I grew up feeling like I was a mistake because of the stories I heard. Neither of my parents had the skills, knowledge, or wherewithal to parent successfully. They could not provide the parental, economic, or household stability a child needs to flourish. Nonetheless, my mother, despite her age, the damage she survived, and lack of resources, did her best. My father’s story was different. He was incarcerated on and off from the time he was a juvenile. By the time I was born, he had already developed an addiction to alcohol and…
When I was a child, I resented the fact that I didn’t know who my father was and that he wasn’t in my life. My mother and father had gone their separate ways before I was even born. What made things even harder as a child was that my mother could only share limited details about who my father was with me. In fact, the only information I ever knew was that his last name was Graham, that he was African American, a veteran, and very tall.
In my 20’s, I began to realize that not knowing about my father was taking a toll on me, and I felt a strong sense that it was time to look for…
My daughters, ages 6 and 3, love Frozen. No, seriously, they love, emulate, and want nothing more than to be the sisters Elsa and Anna from the Disney Frozen franchise.
I had no idea how alluring the magic of Frozen was. The first movie arrived in theaters in 2013, 6 months prior to my first daughter’s arrival. Suffice it to say, I didn’t see it--I thought I was an adult and had put away childish things. I remember hearing that Queen Elsa was the top kids costume for Halloween in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and I thought, What’s the big deal? It’s just a princess with the power to…
Research on fatherhood has come a long way over the last 30 years. Fathers today are recognized more and more as caregivers, playmates, and nurturers–not just economic providers . NRFC's new research scan Father and Child Well-Being: A Scan of Current Research summarizes what fatherhood looks like today, as well as what fatherhood means for fathers’ and children’s well-being. Here’s a quick overview of some of the key points.
Characteristics of U.S. Fathers
About …
Through program practitioners’ day-to-day work with fathers, they are given a unique window into the ways fathers shape their children’s development. However, it is also important to step back and dig into the research from time to time in order to keep up with any new findings around how and why dads are so vital to children’s lives. There is always something new to learn in the field of father involvement and children’s development—as practitioners, researchers, and (many of us) dads ourselves.
First, when we revisit the literature about fathers’ involvement, we need to define:…
Funded by the ACF Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Fatherhood Research & Practice Network (FRPN) promotes rigorous evaluation of fatherhood programs that serve low-income fathers and works to expand the number of researchers and practitioners collaborating to evaluate fatherhood programs. The FRPN has funded 19 grant awards of $1 million since 2014.
On a regular basis, the FRPN leads webinars on topics of interest for fatherhood practitioners and researchers including how to find a research partner and tips for conducting successful evaluation research projects…
My wife and I were supposed to deliver our son on February 22, 2018. For a little over 8 months everything we thought about our pregnancy centered around that date. I requested time off from work starting on February 21. Our parents were planning to make alternate trips to visit us based on the expected due date. When we were deciding on how and when to paint his nursery, we used February 22 as our benchmark for how soon we needed to get things done. For almost a year, everything in our lives centered around February 22, 2018, so imagine my surprise when we were sitting in the doctor's…
I vividly recall my father’s long fingers and open hands as he spoke and welcomed others into his presence. I wisely knew not to interrupt him when I saw his face buried in his hands as he was deep in thought. I appreciated his big hands when he carried me to the emergency room a few times for accidents I had while playing imaginatively. And I tried to follow his teaching on how to appropriately grasp a baseball for a fast ball or a curve ball. Four years since his passing and what I mostly cherish were his embracing hands that would drain out my worries of the world.
There are…
Over the recent holiday season, the old adage “caring is sharing” often comes to mind. Sharing gifts. Sharing time with family and friends. Sharing food (perhaps a cookie or two). These are all wonderful ways to show others that we care about them, and excellent skills to be teaching our children.
But caring is more than sharing, and is fundamentally important to helping raise our children to be empathetic, responsible, successful, and ultimately happy young people and adults. From improved social relationships to success in the workplace, when we are concerned for others and care…
The Thanksgiving holiday is the perfect time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for in our lives, spend quality time with family, take a break from work and school, and of course, eat some pie! Whether you travel to visit others or stay at home this year, here are some ideas for getting the most out of this Thanksgiving holiday with your kids.
Volunteer together. Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to give back to the community and help those who may be less fortunate. Volunteer experiences also help give kids perspective on just how much they have to be thankful for every day…