The Importance and Role of the Father in the Upbringing of Children - Research Paper Example

? The Importance of Father Involvement in the Family The Importance of Father Involvement in the Family The father has always been important in the family because it is his role to support the family in all aspects especially in terms of finances. Primarily he is the breadwinner of the family as he works to provide the needs of his spouse and children. It has been part of the tradition of various races that the male adults are the ones who should take care of the family. By definition, it is the male parent who is called as a father. He is needed for an offspring to be formed together with the mother or the female parent. He contributes the sperm cell which contains the Y chromosome while the X chromosome comes from the mother. It is the meaning in the perspective of biologists (Hewlett, 1992). Biologists have also found out that males have the dominant traits that allow them to be the primary support of the family. They have the instincts to provide for their partners and offspring way back in the primitive era. It is even evident in other species of animals. When it comes to the perspective of traditions, fathers have the role of helping and protecting their children while the mothers are the ones who take care of them. Fathers also create some rules and actions that really affect the growth and development of their children whether those are their daughters or sons. Having a paternal figure affects the behavior and development of children until they become young adults. They are also affected psychologically through the interventions of their fathers. Studies have found out that the more fathers are involved with the lives of their children, the more the children realize their potential. In addition, they get to have balanced lives with enough socialization, educational attainment, purpose in life and many more. Once they have realized their potential, they have more capacity to solve real world problems. The father in a family that may contribute to the development of the children may not necessarily be the biological father. Since there are cases wherein the mother has lost his original husband and remarried or the female parent is divorced and got a new partner (Bedford and Turner, 2006). It may also happen that the children are formed through sperm donation and the partner of the mother is not the one who contributed the sperm. In that case, the male who takes the role of a paternal figure is called the stepfather. A stepfather may become a nurturing father in that case but usually the biological father and the nurturing father is only one person. Some experts have found out that the roles of parents especially of those men are only realized within the context of the society formed by humans. In the groups of animals that are closest to humans, such kind of roles is not realized. History has also showed the importance of fathers. Fatherhood is dictated in the past especially in the time of Romans through vows during matrimony. Such kind of perspective has been disproven by the modern findings of science using DNA testing as the method. The scientific breakthrough has changed the paternal laws. Since in the recent times equality has been the goal of people, fathers have also categories in terms of relationships with their children just like mothers have. Male parents can be considered as the legal, social or biological fathers. Because of the differences in points-of-view, the scientific and social aspects sometimes have problems. Traditions, behaviors, culture and history have determined how to consider the father of the children (Bedford and Turner, 2006). They should be based on marriage. On the other hand, science has shown that it can be traced using sophisticated techniques. It has only occurred in the modern times which mean that the biological father had been hard to identify in the primitive era. That is why people in the past based the rules in social setting. History has also recorded how the concept of fatherhood started. The existence of fatherhood is very important in the development of human civilization. It has been the one responsible for having a paternal society in the past that handled the growing complexities of human organizations as a society in a certain place. Fatherhood had been considered in the past to be very important because the civilization had evolved with the males dominating the society. They were the ones who rule and take care of the group of people. Their existence had been comparable to the importance of fire when it was first found out by primitive men. Although evidences for those claims might not be plenty, experts who studied the ancient times had confirmed that those claims were true. The ancient times did not have enough information about how humans can reproduce that is why having sex and forming new individuals were not connected as the ancient men perceived them. Although they might not see the direct connection, they had the slight idea of the relation of the two. They are comparable to delivery and conception whereas giving birth is seen by the naked eyes while conception could not be observed directly. The timeframe between the two made it even more difficult to find the relationship between conception and giving birth. Since it was hard to find the clear connections, the ancient societies had not assumed the role of men in the conception and delivery of women (Bedford and Turner, 2006). They had solely attributed the ability to procreate to women alone. The given role to males was to ensure the survival of the family and their group while the women had the role of reintegrating the group through their ability to give birth. There had been evidences of the claims about the role of men and women in ancient societies. Researchers had found some Venus decors that were dated back in the Paleolithic era. Changes had occurred when the timeline shifted to Neolithic era where agriculture became the dominant source of living in almost all human societies. During that time, women spent more time than their counterparts in taking care of the cattle. Breeding the cattle became part of the routine of Neolithic women which might have led them to assume that sex between a male and a female is the precursor of procreation. Despite of those discoveries, there were still some social groups that viewed sex is done for pleasure only. In addition, those communities had not attached any sense of taboo to that kind of activity. The discovery of the connection between copulation and procreation had led to the prevalence of taboo in the concept of sexuality. The whole human system was shocked by the discovery. The discovery might had happened for thousands of years but it was unpreventable that had produced a very extreme reaction from the society (Hewlett, 1992). The reaction might have been the basis of various modern communities as they have adopted the culture. In the modern times, it is still unavoidable for males to dominate females because of the adopted culture that was formed due to the upsetting discovery in the relationship of sex and procreation. Probably the social setting provides males to avoid the social frustration of attributing the capability to produce life to females only. It might have been the reason for the conspiracy of having a male-dominated society. Since fatherhood had been established, it resulted to the domination of men over women. It had produced the patriarchal society wherein males are the ones who hold the position in the social groups. The same pattern has been observed in family and it is still observed up to the modern era. In addition, that kind of model had produced the strict norms with regards to sexuality. It has been branded as taboo by the society. It has been the regulating factor to prevent people from gaining the freedom to engage in any sexual acts which are not related to procreation. Those may be rooted from the fatherhood establishment and the settled way of living of people since Neolithic Era (Hewlett, 1992). It had spawned the concept of ownership and protection of it against competing individuals. The history had shown how fatherhood had been established and became important in the family. Spending time with the children is also part of the role of a male when he enters fatherhood. He can watch television or read books with his children. He may also engage in sports or hobbies with his children to strengthen the bond and produce healthy and positive impacts to the experiences of his children. Some of the considerations that a father must have when he wants to become involve with his children should be focused on the needs of his sons or daughters. He may need to engage in activities that his children want while having fun in doing so. He may also teach his children new skills that may enhance their social, mental and physical abilities. He may also engage in planning for the future of his children and introducing the resources to them that are accessible in their community. He must also be accessible everyday when his children need him while being happy to spend time with his children even though they may not be thinking of any goals. When all of those are met, children grow holistically and more fulfilled in life as their father is able to guide them along the way. It might not be easy to get involve always and meet the required involvement that is stated above. There are various factors that might keep the fathers from spending time with their children. They may be busy working to provide the needs of their children like food, shelter and good education. In that case, other people would be the ones to handle and affect the growth and development of their children (LeMonda, 2002). Those who are responsible for the nurturing may be given to other relatives like grandparents, teachers, nannies and many more. When interactions happen regularly, positive impacts can be seen in the development of the children and they respect their father very much. The attachment would grow and understanding would be better. Ideally, fathers should be involved in all phases of the development of their children. It is part of the so-called parenting. Despite of that, the degree of involvement differs from one family to another. Some fathers prefer to teach and discipline their children only as they cannot give all of their time to their children because of other commitments. Although they may not be there all the time, they still perform the responsibilities of a father to his children. Fathers may have other responsibilities but the more involvement they have with their children, the more their children grow as fulfilled and healthy individuals (LeMonda, 2002). The commitment of being fulltime in watching and engaging their children may not be easy for many dads. They may need to sacrifice other commitments to take care of their children. They may need to solve the problems with their children, look for community resources for youth and even feed them. The next part would deal with the father involvement in his family in the Middle East. Since culture affect the way people behave, a shift in place may mean difference in culture and different way on how the male parents are involved in their families. Such kind of interest would be dealt with in the succeeding paragraphs. Studies about gender and sexuality had been focused in the issues of women especially in the Middle East. Despite of the women issues as being the common topic in sexuality, the male gender has also been tackled although not as frequent as that of females. Once the male gender has been the topic, the concepts revolve on power and religion most of the time. The topic of fatherhood has not been common. One of the issues in fatherhood in the Middle East may be rooted from the existence of polygamy in the culture of people there. Men are allowed to marry more than one woman. Probably it is attributed to the vast wealth that has been accumulated since the time of the proliferation of agriculture. The security of having many wives and the power that accompanies it are equivalent to the wealth that the man must have (Popenoe, 2009). It may impact the survival of the family. There are also other issues in father involvement in Middle East. They have the known killing of their own family member just to save the honor of the family. The tradition is strict and the family values the beliefs that their forefathers have given to them. Such kind of practice might be changed due to modernization but it causes tension in the way Middle Eastern fathers take care of their children. They are forced to adapt to the changing times which may conflict with their culture. In addition, the economic conditions may also affect the relationship as the fathers may need to migrate to work abroad and prioritize the needs of their families (Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb, 2013). In the later decades of the twentieth century, the Western ideas start to penetrate the Middle Eastern culture and challenge the tradition there especially in the image of a father. A father has been considered to be a nurturer now that poses a bias on the traditional view of a father as a provider. The same image has emerged in the seventies in the West as a father is also considered to be an active component in the growth and development of his children. He must also show his support and care for his children by spending quality time with them. It really affects the socialization development process of the children positively (Bosch, 2008). Father involvement is really important in maintaining a family and not just to provide the needs of the family members. The role of the father may have changed as the history has shown but being the male parent is a role that is irreplaceable as he plays an important part in the growth and development of his children and his family. References Bedford, V. (2006). Men in relationships: A new look from a life course perspective. USA: Springer. Bosch, M. (2008). The representation of fatherhood by the Arab diaspora in the United States. Lectora, 14: 101-112. Hewlett, B. (1992). Father-child relations: Cultural and biosocial contexts. USA: Transaction Publishers. LeMonda, C. (2002). Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives. USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Schwalb, D., Schwalb, B. and Lamb, M. (2013). The father's role: Cross-cultural perspectives. USA: Routledge. Poponoe, D. (2009). Families without fathers: Fathers, marriage and children in American society. USA: Transaction Publishers. Read More