The Role of Father in the Family: the Review of Studies
Parents agreed that children’s well-being is mostly depended on family environment. This the role of father in the family essay will explore the role and father's influence through different studies. Parents expressed that family quarrel is very common in our culture. If there is a dispute, it should be settled before the children. Most of the participants gave emphasis on the good relationship between husband and wife, which could give a better environment for children. Khan also pointed out that supportive father-child relationships were also dependent on father-mother relationships which could be established in a positive familial context. In another study of Fagan and Palkovitz presented that conjugal harmony and positive relationships between parents were the major factors for children, while negative relationships were seen as hazardous and in broader sense it could negatively affect child’s well-being.
Parental Understanding about the Relationship between Development and Well-Being of the Children
In this study, participants agreed that social and emotional development is very much linked with children’s well-being. They opined that friends, school, relatives and neighbours had a great influence on the well-being of the child. Similarly an essay of Indicators of Children's Well-Being pointed that a child or human who performed socially accepted behaviour on a daily basis like read books, meet friends, do household works, listen to music, create art; can hold a variety of positive life goals, for example- success in career, good relations with relatives, heartfelt friendships, community contributions. So social and emotional development is very much related with a child’s future well-being.
Parents’ believed that well-being of the child had an influence on the future life of the child. They assumed that an unhappy child might get involved in theft or robbery or become addicted in future life. However there were some variation in parents’ perceptions, like a child might overcome his present adverse situation and would be well in future. Richard Davidson spoke in the same tune in his book of The Emotional Life of Your Brain.
Perception on Role Differences Between Parents
There were varied opinions from parents regarding parental role. Most of the parents expressed that fathers and mothers role are different in children’s development and well-being. They expressed roles of father and mother are determined by the society and mother had countless accountabilities in child rearing than fathers. It was established from studies that according to different cultural contexts, the expectations of fatherhood could also be different. However, in Bangladesh the father is an important figure who can take the prime decisions on children’s health, academic progress and life; while mothers are children’s main caregivers. There is no right or wrong in doing the responsibilities. To these parents, each has some specific role and they should preform them accordingly.
Studies have shown that in the Anglo-Saxon countries like the United States mothers and fathers have been found to be specialized when it comes to communication with their children. For example father have been found to encourage play but mothers on the other hand have been seen caretaking and nurturing their children. Different studies show parents appeared different role regarding play and communicative styles also. Fathers have been found to be inconsistent in providing stimulations whereas mothers found to be smoother in their styles. Labrell identified that French and Swiss father were also more interfering. American fathers are more inclined to physical play across the infancy period. So culture is the key issue to determine the parental role.
On the other hand, some participants stated that there are no roles differences between father and mother in children’s development and well-being. They mentioned that it is the responsibilities of both parents to contribute to daily caring activities and also opined that the children’s well-being and development should be ensured by both the parents. Similarly, the changing nature of fatherhood has recognised a range of roles like, living maker, friend, caregiver, guardian, idol and guide etc.
However, it has also been found that fathers are unique when it comes to landing an impact on their children such as that father’s emphasis more on physical play and by this physical play the intellectual and socials skills development can be ensured, on the other hand mothers prioritize the language development and academic success.
Perception of Father’s Involvement in Children’s Development and Well-being
It can be concluded from the focus group discussion and in-depth interview that everyone has agreed that the father should be involved with the child from an early age. Otherwise, a distance is created with the child as he or she grows up. Which impedes the child from forming an unconditional relationship with the father. Father involvement project is conceptualize to describe men’s role in caregiving across a range of task that can be grouped into three major parts. First one is engagement (spent personal time with children), second is accessibility (involved in household chores with minimal one-on-one interaction) and the third one is responsibility (when the fathers perform the activities which are mostly related with child care, like feeding the children, giving them a bath, putting them to sleep, taking them to schools and so on). This study’s findings showed that fathers’ were very much involved in the third dimension (Responsibilities) and they were not so involved in terms of interaction and accessibility. Though both the parents were very much aware about the father involvement on child development and well-being and most of the father’s also wanted to do their responsibilities; however the issues is the extent of the fathers’ responsibilities, which is determined by the society and culture is not much linked with the interaction and accessibility of child’s rearing. Still the majority of the parents’ believed that the daily child rearing activities or time spent to engage in domestic tasks is not father’s defined responsibilities.
In this study, the participants also stated that father were involved sending and bringing the child from school, providing financial support, taking children to park or other outdoor, making decisions about schools and teachers. In Turkey, most of the fathers considered and valued three elementary things for their offspring: A good schooling, a good profession, and a good conjugal life. From Allen and Daily's exploration we concluded that when father showed interest in their children school activities both fathers and children started developing positive experience towards education.
The Relationship of Father-Child in regards of Children’s Development and Well-being
Most of the participants identified that the father-child bonding should be friendly for boosting the children’s development and well-being. One of the most important things of a father-child bonding is fostering the relationship and keeping close intimacy which are also important for the children’s mental state. Such positive bonding can also help to make future relationships of the child more fruitful. In addition the child in the future will be able to fix conflicts in his/her future relationships better.
In this study, few of the parents reported that they viewed their relationship with their children both as friend and discipliner. Research studies also support this statement. It has been found that boys of fathers who were complimented and given good remarks did better on intellectual proficiency exams than those boys who had less caring fathers. In another study, fathers who placed restrictions on children but also gave appropriate liberty had sons who were better in academics.
Fathers’ Involvement in Daily Child Rearing Activities for Children’s Development and Well-being
According to most fathers as participants, mother was the responsible person of taking care of the children especially in early years. These fathers did not take up the charge of physical care in their children. When it comes to caregiving styles both parents have their distinctive ways of handling children. Men prioritize the completion of important tasks such as making them eat food or bathing them. Women, on the other hand, use the same activities but for the purpose of verbally communicating with their children. It seem that both approaches have their own advantages.
The majority of the participants mentioned that the fathers’ took part in daily caring and rearing activities which were mainly talking or gossiping with them of their daily activities or favourite issues or friends or school; watching movie or TV with them; taking them to a park or any relatives house or for a walk; buying toys or foods; playing with them and eating with them. Most of the fathers were happy to give advice, share their knowledge and perception on life to the children because they thought that by this way they could prepare their children. Most of the parents thought that it is their duty to prepare their children for the future life by giving them advice and share their life experience. Turkey’s culture of fatherhood is more likely to Bangladesh. In Turkey, fathers are not much caring when it comes to children physical care. Commonly, they are not actively participating in one to one interaction but rather do partial interaction such as watching shows together. Basically, they see the conversation with the children as an excuse to give advices on life.
It is very interesting that very few fathers attended their children’s school activities regularly; the fathers assisting the children rarely to prepare their homework. Studies showed that fathers are made involved in children’s tutoring when the children do well in education, and want to work on those children who are easy to manage; and when fathers help the children in their study, they do well both academically and psychosocially.
Fathers’ passed hardly two to three hours with the children on a weekday and maximum four to five hours on a weekend. Actually the amount of time which a father passes with a child is not the only vital for stimulating their mental health. The quality of contact is the main factor which represents appropriate parenting and that leads to deeper relationship. Therefore coming from a large scale study we can say that the quantity of contact should not be taken into account when ensuring effective fathering.
From the above discussion, it can be apparent that the majority of the fathers thought the primary caregiver of their child is their spouse. To them, they also took part in daily caring and rearing activities which are mainly talking or gossiping with them of their daily activities or favourite issues or friends or school; watching movie or TV with them; taking them to a park or any relatives house or for a walk; buying toys or foods; playing with them and eating with them. Moreover it is an interesting findings that fathers’ are very much concerned on child education, but the fathers assist the children rarely to prepare their homework. They actually ready to pay for the child’s education, guide and instruct them. In fact, generation to generation it is happening in our culture. Moreover, it has a chain effect; the father who got enough interaction as a child will in turn interact with his own child.
Fathers’ Mindset Which Prevent Them From Being Involved in Child Care
The data findings suggested that there were several concerns that stop fathers from taking part in child care found from parents when they were asked to identify those obstacles that prevent fathers’ involvement in early years. Most of the parents explained that lack of self-motivation, lack of confidence in parenting and skills derived most of the fathers’ not to be involved. Cook et al. found out that fathers who expected intimacy with their children were actually giving more care than fathers who had minimum or zero expectation. Bouchard et al. came to the conclusion that fathers get involved because they believe it necessary and for self-satisfaction.
Traditional Beliefs and Cultural Influences That Prevent the Fathers’ From Being Involved in Child Care
The study findings indicated that most of the participants believed that gender differentiated labor was the most important element affecting fathers’ participation in the child caring and rearing. In the similar way the study on Involved Fatherhood and its Determinants in Turkey revealed that masculine traits influences paternal behaviors. Traditional fathers were found to be low in the fatherhood index. Moreover, as fathers claim themselves to be the ruling member of the family, they provide less physical care to their children.
The study findings demonstrated that the maximum participants perceived that family approval was the most important factor of father involvement. Lamb & Lewis have also claimed that the bond between fathers and mothers is the principal factor affecting father involvement.
The majority of the participants of this study told that they did not receive support from their partners, relatives, and surroundings to be engaged in child rearing activities. In the same way another study reveals that mother’s behavior towards father’s involvement may determine the role of the father in the family.
This study findings also show that fathers faced obstacle from the mother and extended family members, especially from the grandparents of the child for being involved. A study by Polatnick (1973–1974) revealed that there may be multiple causes as to why mothers are anxious about dynamic paternal roles. Similarly a study on The Role of Father in Child Development has discovered that mother and administrator, the two roles of the maternal parent never had its expertise questioned and only in these areas women stereotypically enjoyed their control.
Lack of Knowledge Prevent the Fathers’ From Being Involved in Child Care
Most of the father felt that lack of knowledge about the benefits of father involvement among the children as well as father is one of the major hindrance in our country. Some participants told that mass media and civil society can help the fathers to become aware about the benefits of fathers’ involvement in child care. Likewise, similar findings was identified on a study of Involved Fatherhood and its Determinants in Turkey.
From the above discussion, it is evident that fathers were not engaged them much on child daily caring and rearing activities or in domestic tasks. However when the researcher tried to find out the Obstacles that Prevent Fathers’ involvement in Early Years, then it was came out that fathers’ mind set, traditional beliefs and cultural influences as well as lack of knowledge are the key factors. It is remarkable that especially the mothers expressed the necessity of father involvement in child’s physical care but the fathers faced obstacle from the mother and extended family members, especially from the grandparents of the child for being involved. However, some mothers are anxious that their power position in the family will be under threat if they decide to involve fathers in child caring and rearing or believe their spouses are unskilled to take care of the children. Conversely, in this study the parents were very much aware about their children’s development and well-being, but they have lack of knowledge on how to engage in child caring and rearing activities and also the true meaning of father engagement.
Conclusion
Fathers can make a difference which make a huge contribution on a child’s development and well-being. To a child’s holistic development and well-being, it is principal of how the father communicates with the other family members.
From the research findings it is apparent that fathers did not receive much aid to be the optimum parent. Majority of the fathers aim to provide what is beneficial for their children, despite there being lack of knowledge, lack of available support, and traditional beliefs like stereotypes about masculinity make them inaccessible from their children. The ways of the father’s communication style, their playfulness and stimulation attitude help the child to be involved in more difficult activities and such fathers act as a guide to the broader world.
Therefore, more devotion should be given on the significance of fatherhood and provide more support for fathers, so that they can help their children for a better and contented start in life.
Recommendations
The aim of the study is to explore the views of both parents towards fathers’ involvement for children’s development & well-being in early years. Here these perception are examined in the ways that; what they belief, how the practice it and why the fathers don’t involve fully in child rearing activities to make sure children’s development and well-being. In a broader head, parents are thoughtful about their children’s development and well-being, but there are less support especially for fathers’ involvement. For this, here some recommendation are suggested provisioning on the findings and discussion:
- Should include fathers in parenting programs traditionally targeting only mothers. Parenting awareness programs and programs of parenting skills should be made more available in such settings or scheduled that can be suited for the convenience for the fathers and should be responded to fathers’ expressed needs and preferences.
- There has been inadequate emphasis on the expansion and assessment of fatherhood programs. This should be fixed by allowing programs with longer duration and there should be a study to assess whether if it has been effective or not.
- There should be more budget allocated to be spent on the research that works on features of fatherhood.
- Program on fatherhood and father-friendly employment etiquettes (e.g. leave of absence policies, lenient working practices) should be introduced in the workplace.
- The policy makers, community leaders and religious leaders need to take step for ensuring father involvement.
