Involved Dads Give Kids an Edge (Canada)

September 15, 2011 — New data from a long-running study of Canadian families suggest that fathers play a key role in their children's intellect and behavior.

Compared with children with absentee fathers, children whose fathers were present and actively involved in their lives during early and middle childhood had fewer behavior problems and higher intellectual abilities as they grew older, even among children of lower socioeconomic status.

"Regardless of whether fathers lived with their children, their ability to set appropriate limits and structure their children's behaviour positively influenced problem-solving and decreased emotional problems, such as sadness, social withdrawal and anxiety," first author Erin Pougnet, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, noted in a statement.

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Too many mums exclude dad from bringing up kids (UK)

I’ve always been keen on dads, even when there were no stats around to prove just how crucial they are to the healthy all-round development of a child. And this is particularly true with boys.

I have even gone as far as criticising absent or negligent dads for ignoring the needs of their children.

But now it would seem that it’s not errant dads who are the critical factor, it’s mums who don’t want dads around.

There is a new generation of women who choose to be a single mum and exclude dad from bringing up their child.

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Fatherless boys become dads earlier: study (UK)

AAP

Young boys whose dads don't live at home are more likely to become fathers in their early 20s, new research shows.

According to the British study, it also linked absent dads to delays in their sons experiencing the key puberty milestone of voice-breaking.

The researchers suggested it was possible the stress associated with not having a father around could have an effect on adolescent hormones and delay puberty.

Boys with absent fathers were more likely to have had at least one child by the time they turned 23 compared to those whose fathers were still at home by the time their sons turned 16.

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A father’s day gift from Labor and the Greens: increased fatherlessness

Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to fatherlessness: violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, teen pregnancy, suicide – all correlate more strongly to fatherlessness than to any other single factor. The majority of prisoners, juvenile detention inmates, high school dropouts, pregnant teenagers, adolescent murderers and rapists all come from fatherless homes. The connection is so strong that controlling for fatherlessness erases the relationships between race and crime and between low income and crime. Many commentators, including the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, have laid the blame for the recent UK riots at least partially on the fact that many of the rioters were raised in homes without their fathers present.

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Kids to be denied their Fathers, because of ONE Man’s vote – Tony Windsor

Please read the following letter that was sent to Tony Windsor, Federal Member for New England, on the proposed 2011 child custody/family law changes currently before Parliament, designed to prevent most separated fathers from having contact with their children. The office of Tony Windsor has made it clear to me that they do not care to respond to the serious issues confronting separated fathers and children of separated families, despite being given ample opportunity to do so in response to this letter, and in previous discussions.

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