Father Involvement in Early Childhood
Abstract It has become very evident in recent years that father involvement in a child’s education has become an important part of early childhood. Studies have shown that fathers are an important part of how successful children will be throughout their school years. The purpose of this paper is to discover the reasons that father involvement is important and what early childhood educators are doing to involve fathers to lead to greater success of overall father involvement. In order to succeed educators need to make sure that there is the name of the father included on all enrollment documents, invite fathers to participate in all of their children activities and involving those fathers who live apart from their children.
Introduction It seems that we hear more and more each day how fathers need to be more involved in caring for their children. We hear these messages on television, the radio, school, and at home. The word father is defined as a man who exercises paternal care over other persons: paternal protector or provider. Involvement is defined as: to include or contain as a necessary part; the task involves hard work (Dictionary.com, 2011). These definitions certainly do go together well. No one ever said that parenting was easy but to be the best parents possible we need to make sure both parents are involved in their child’s education equally. To be an involved father the research will show that:
• Fathers need to have a direct interaction between him and the child.
• Accessibility or how available a father is to his child when needed.
• Responsibility, managing and providing resources for a child (doctor’s appointments, supplementing family income or child support).
• Building of social capital or how fathers provide a support network for children as they grow up to contribute to society (Evans, 2009).
These are all ways that fathers can show that they are involved and active participants in their child’s
Introduction It seems that we hear more and more each day how fathers need to be more involved in caring for their children. We hear these messages on television, the radio, school, and at home. The word father is defined as a man who exercises paternal care over other persons: paternal protector or provider. Involvement is defined as: to include or contain as a necessary part; the task involves hard work (Dictionary.com, 2011). These definitions certainly do go together well. No one ever said that parenting was easy but to be the best parents possible we need to make sure both parents are involved in their child’s education equally. To be an involved father the research will show that:
• Fathers need to have a direct interaction between him and the child.
• Accessibility or how available a father is to his child when needed.
• Responsibility, managing and providing resources for a child (doctor’s appointments, supplementing family income or child support).
• Building of social capital or how fathers provide a support network for children as they grow up to contribute to society (Evans, 2009).
These are all ways that fathers can show that they are involved and active participants in their child’s
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