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Anonymous Father’s Day

November 25th, 2011 Comments off

by Carolyn Moynihan

Watch the video.

It’s Father’s Day again — that is, Anonymous Father’s Day, a time to become aware of what the children of donor dads think of their absent, unknown progenitors. Read more…

Fatherhood makes the man

November 10th, 2011 Comments off

by Carolyn Moynihan

dad

There is an increasing amount of fatherhood research going on, which is a good thing. A father’s place in the family has been undervalued in recent decades while single motherhood was socially accepted and supported. Children need their fathers. Read more…

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Fatherhood and biology

September 14th, 2011 16 comments

by Carolyn Moynihan

If you asked a normal father why he stayed around after his child was born he might be a bit offended, and then he might say that it was because he loved his child and its mother (his wife) and because, anyway, he is responsible, along with his wife, for the children they bring into the world. He might also point out that he committed himself to the family when he married his wife. In other words, he would give a moral explanation.

Much is being made this week, however, of a study that shows testosterone declines markedly in men who become fathers, giving them a push in the direction of committed parenthood. It’s, like, suddenly we can know that fathers are meant to be with their children because biology proves it. Oh well, anything that reinforces the message is welcome. Read more…

Fathers’ Presence Linked to Enhanced Intellect, Well-Being Among Children

September 14th, 2011 7 comments

ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2011) — Fathers who actively engage in raising their children can help make their offspring smarter and better behaved, according to new research from Concordia University.

Published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, the long-term study examined how fathers can positively influence the development of their kids through hands-on parenting. Read more…

“Nobody Gets Married Any More, Mister”

September 8th, 2011 6 comments

An urban high school teacher in Connecticut talks about unwed motherhood, fatherlessness, and how it affects the kids in his classroom.

by Gerry Garibaldi

…Here’s my prediction: the money, the reforms, the gleaming porcelain, the hopeful rhetoric about saving our children—all of it will have a limited impact, at best, on most city schoolchildren. Urban teachers face an intractable problem, one that we cannot spend or even teach our way out of: teen pregnancy. This year, all of my favorite girls are pregnant, four in all, future unwed mothers every one. There will be no innovation in this quarter, no race to the top. Personal moral accountability is the electrified rail that no politician wants to touch… Read more…

The importance of dad

September 7th, 2011 1 comment

by Carolyn Moynihan

The importance of fathers in their children’s lives has been underscored by Canadian research. Hands-on parenting by the dad tends to make kids smarter and better behaved, the study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science found.

Lead researcher Erin Pougnet says: Read more…

Categories: Children, fathers Tags: ,

Australia to give new dads two weeks paid leave

September 7th, 2011 4 comments

Way to go, Australia! Boy, wouldn’t I love to have this here!

by Carolyn Moynihan

day-baby

Read more…

Categories: Babies, fathers Tags: ,

Britain’s deadbeatest Dad

August 19th, 2011 1 comment

At what point are people going to realize that this hedonistic anything goes mentality is destroying society?

by Zac Alstin

He’s 34 years old, has 15 children, 13 lovers and no job. What Jamie Cumming’s serial polygamy tells us about the state of the family in Britain. Read more…

Categories: family, fathers Tags: ,

Fatherless youths run riot

August 17th, 2011 1 comment

by Joanna Bogle

Will the mayhem in British cities this week finally convince doubters that family structure matters?

No structure to life, no moral values, no father, little or no ability to read and write, a passion for consumer goods fuelled by an upbringing focused on the fulfilment of immediate needs – all this plus physical strength, ferocious anger, and commitment to a strong gang – it all makes rioting a good way to spend a summer evening. Read more…

When you’re giving thanks for those who made the British riots possible…

August 11th, 2011 6 comments

…don’t forget to thank the single mothers, the welfare state, and the culture of fatherlessness that helped make these riots possible.

Here’s Theodore Dalrymple:

British youth leads the Western world in almost all aspects of social pathology, from teenage pregnancy to drug taking, from drunkenness to violent criminality. There is no form of bad behaviour that our version of the welfare state has not sought out and subsidised. Read more…

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Husband’s Day

June 20th, 2011 7 comments

by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D

First published at NationalReview.com on June 16, 2006.

Father’s Day is a day for honoring fathers. But I would like to take a step back and honor men as husbands. In our enlightened, liberated era, we have a tendency to overlook men as husbands, since the father is so often not the husband of the mother. But without some kind of connection between the man and the woman, there is quite literally, no child. I’d like to make the case that the most important thing fathers can do for their children is to love their mother. And likewise, among the many things mothers do for their children, one of the most important is that mothers love their children’s father.

As with so many things, our family learned this from our experience with disturbed children. We encountered a gifted therapist named Nancy Thomas who taught us that attachment disordered children need a strong mother figure to whom they can attach. These children don’t really believe that anyone can take care of them, that the universe is fundamentally a hostile place, and that they must take care of themselves. If the child perceives any weakness in the mother, the child cannot entrust himself to her. Read more…

On Dad’s Day, the importance of his way of parenting

June 18th, 2011 38 comments

by Carolyn Moynihan

Sue Schellenbarger at the Wall Street Journal has put together a great article on the importance of dad-style parenting.

As an estimated 70.1 million fathers prepare to celebrate Father’s Day in the U.S., recent research shows that their distinct style of parenting is particularly worth recognition: The way dads tend to interact has long-term benefits for kids, independent of those linked to good mothering. Read more…

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse’s radio show tonight

June 6th, 2011 Comments off

We aim to support a culture of marriage, here on Catholic Radio of San Diego. The fallout from divorce creates some of the deepest wounds that people experience in their lifetimes. In this edition of “From the Front Lines of the Culture Wars,” we’re going to look at the divorce experience up close and
personal, from the man’s point of view. Join Dr. J this Monday, June 6, as she interviews Dr. Warren Farrell, author of numerous books including Father and Child Reunion. Listen to Dr. J and Dr. Warren Farrell as they discuss these crucial questions:

• Are all absent fathers really “deadbeat dads”?

• What are some of the forces making it difficult for fathers to continue being involved in their children’s lives? Read more…

There Are No Illegitimate Kids, Just Illegitimate Parents

May 28th, 2011 1 comment

Michael Reagan, adopted son of President Ronald Reagan, says,

The recent headlines about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelities and the son he fathered out of wedlock have stirred many old memories and emotions…

I keep hearing chattering heads on TV referring to the boy as Schwarzenegger’s “illegitimate” son. It makes my blood boil. Listen, there’s no such thing as an illegitimate child. There are only illegitimate parents. Read more…

“Courageous”: Coming to theaters Sept. 30, 2011

May 17th, 2011 2 comments

There’s a new movie on the way, from the makers of Fireproof.  And what Fireproof did for marriage, Courageous promises to do for fatherhood.

A reporter writes,

“Courageous,” which is expected to be released in 2011, is about four police officers in Albany, Ga., who while giving their best to their job are not putting in the same effort to being a father. Tragedy strikes one of the officers’ family that causes the others to unite around him and vow to be more committed fathers. Read more…

New book claims all women want to be ‘daddy’s girl’

May 11th, 2011 12 comments

By Laura Donovan

Women have risen economically, professionally and academically since the 70s, but these accomplishments don’t substitute for a father’s love.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, an assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College, has just released her new book, “Our Fathers, Ourselves,” which attests that father-daughter relationships remain a crucial part of development for girls.

Of the 75 women Dr. Drexler interviewed, the research psychologist wrote, “No matter how successful they were or how much they had achieved, and no matter how content they were in their own marriages and the families they had formed, they still wanted and in some cases hungered for their fathers’ love and approval.” Read more…

Categories: fathers, Parenting Tags:

Ten Arguments From Social Science Against Same-Sex ‘Marriage’

March 3rd, 2011 49 comments

From the frc.org article:

A large and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that the intact, married family is best for children. In particular, the work of scholars David Popenoe, Linda Waite, Maggie Gallagher, Sara McLanahan, David Blankenhorn, Paul Amato, and Alan Booth has contributed to this conclusion.

This statement from Sara McLanahan, a sociologist at Princeton University, is representative: Read more…

Planned Parenthood Tried to Keep a 14-year-old Girl – Impregnated by a 20-year-old ‘Man’ – From Her Father and Police

February 21st, 2011 8 comments

This incident is just more evidence of Planned Parenthood’s mindset and priorities.

Two ‘Brave New Worlds’: One For Women, One For Men (And Never The Twain Shall Meet?)

February 19th, 2011 79 comments

Occasionally on this blog, same-sex ‘marriage’ proponents have challenged those of us who would seek to protect the institution of marriage to explain why, if we truly believe that (part of) the public purpose of marriage is to attach parents to their children, we nevertheless maintain that even a man and woman who are (for whatever reason) incapable of procreating together, or who simply have no desire or intention of doing so, should still be allowed – and even encouraged – to enjoy the benefits of married life. Read more…

Should dads lay off baby care?

February 2nd, 2011 3 comments

Kind of a fun, funny article. I’m with the author on this one.

by Mariette Ulrich

One hates to be cynical, but I often cringe when I see an article that begins with the words: “Psychologists have found…” Usually, they have found something that wasn’t lost. Or else they find something that works for some people, but not for others, or for some people some of the time, but not at other times. That’s not a discovery; that’s the breadth and scope of human experience.

“Men should concentrate on playing with their children and leave the care to women” the London Telegraph heading announces. Read more…