Father-child interaction crucial to development

Sandra Knight, GUEST COLUMNIST

Tomorrow is Fathers Day, and many of us are busy making preparations for the day to be exciting, love-filled and amazing for the dads in our lives.

In addition, this year let us reach out to a father, grandfather, stepfather, adoptive father, friend, neighbour or co-worker who is a father and who has fathered our nations children and who still goes unrecognised yearly. This person could be a community leader who is a positive father figure to whom many of our young Jamaicans may look up to.

In the same breath, it is important to recognise the many families devoid of a father figure, as some of our males are reneging on their obligation to their children and many times to their entire families.

There is a pervasion of sexual perversion in our society that seems to support males engaging in intercourse without wishing to face the consequences of that interaction. Today, we say enough is enough! Without strongly bonded families, we will never have a strong nation.

According to Dr Ken Canfield, founder and president, National Centre for Fathering in the United States, Kids spell love T-I-M-E. The time a father spends with his children is important for at least three reasons.

First, spending time together enables a father to get to know and to be known by his child. Second, a father who spends lots of time with his child tends to be better at caring. And third, as the quotation above illustrates, children often do see time as an indicator of a parents love for them.

promotes development

Father-child interaction has been shown to promote a childs physical well-being, perceptual abilities, and competency for relatedness with others, even at a young age, reported Krampe, E.M. and P.D. Fairweather in the Journal of Family Issues 14.4 (December 1993): 572-591. Other research literature provides a few important points about father-child bonding:

Fathers should spend considerable time with their children playing and having fun. As discussed earlier, fathers play has a unique role in the childs development, teaching, for example, how to explore the world and how to keep aggressive impulses in check.

Fathers should maintain the active, physical, and playful style of fathering as their children age. Active pursuits like tossing the football, playing basketball, hiking, or going to the library may prove more valuable than spending time in passive activities such as watching television. This also supports the childs emotional well-being, social development, and physical fitness.

Fathers should engage in productive activities with their children such as household chores, washing dishes after meals, or cleaning up the backyard. Research consistently shows that such shared activities promote a sense of responsibility and significance in children that is, in turn, linked to greater self-esteem, academic and occupational achievement, psychological well-being, and civic engagement later in life.

Fathers should spend time fostering intellectual growth in their children. Some studies suggest that fathers involvement in educational activities from reading to their children to meeting with their childs teacher may be more important for their childrens academic success than, at times, their mothers involvement. (Nord, C., & West, J. (2001)

Daddy, a Fathers Day gift is an awesome way to honour you, but dont forget to honour your family by spending quality time with them.

We admire and honour fathers who are responsible and honourable to their families.

Dr Sandra Knight is chairperson of the National Family Planning Board. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.