The DadTalk blog features insights from dads and Responsible Fatherhood practitioners from around the country. Its goal is to start conversations about important issues surrounding fatherhood and programs for fathers today.
Family strengthening is a topic that has always been a part of the Head Start vision, and the past two decades have seen a growing recognition of how important Dads are to this process. For example, take the 2017 Father/Male Engagement…
The effects of incarceration are felt far beyond prison walls. New research estimates that more than 5 million children, or 7% of all children in the United States, have had a parent in prison at some point during their childhood. Every year more than 600,000 individuals return to our neighborhoods after serving time in federal and state prisons and another 11.4 million cycle through local jails. Though every family’s story is different, many justice-involved…
Because we did not have a lot of money growing up, I went to work at age 12. I started my own lawn mowing business in the summer and had my own paper route year-round. At 14, I went to work at a semi-truck tire rim refurbishing plant. It was the most physically demanding job I have ever endured. It involved shoveling huge piles of sand and moving them by wheel barrow to the sand blaster as well as lifting giant steel tire rims—by-hand—into and out of a vat of paint. But this was actually a blessing in that it taught me many skills and lessons that I needed to learn in order to be…
When the daughter of one of my employees was about eight years old he took her to work at the environmental engineering firm that I owned. Once there she immediately ditched him and latched on to the lone female geologist I had working for me at the time. She took her out with her to take soil samples from a site and apparently had a grand old time in the field and at lunch. Afterwards his daughter talked about her experience nearly nonstop. She became a rock hound and has had an interest in the earth sciences ever since. Today she has graduated with a degree in biology and works for an…
Accidents can happen to anyone, sometimes even under Dad’s watchful eye. The most important thing dads can do to keep their children safe is stay informed about how they are most likely to get hurt. Even though most children do not get seriously injured from these everyday accidents, it is important to know what dangers they face and what Dad can do to help avoid them. This is where the…
Ed note: This post originally appeared in the ACF Family Room Blog. View the original post here.
An important goal of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is to promote and support work readiness and employment in low-income families. There are a lot of possible employment and training options for individuals trying to support their families. But which jobs are better for lifting a family out of poverty? Which occupational fields are growing…
One of the most challenging things in life may be trying to successfully blend together two separate families with different expectations, experiences, and backgrounds. And being a stepparent may be the hardest thing anyone attempts in their life (possibly the most unappreciated anyway). Here are five tips from experienced parents on how to express love within a blended family.
Accept everyone for who they are Lower your expectations of trying to look like the “perfect family.” Do not force kids to immediately love their new siblings or step parent. Bonding and learning to love…
There’s something special about dads and daughters. It’s a special and unique connection, and beyond being a source of happiness, being a positive, involved influence in your daughter’s life can have a significant impact on her long-term well-being. Research has shown that feeling close to her father had a significantly positive effect on both the self-esteem and life satisfaction of daughters. It also suggests that greater father-daughter affection early in a daughter’s adult life may contribute to later well-being by bolstering her self-esteem.1
What’s one way to be a positive…
Benjamin Franklin famously stated that the only two certainties in life are “death and taxes.”
Let us add “homework” to Franklin’s list.
Nearly everybody – child or adult, man or woman – has dealt with the challenges and responsibilities of homework during their lives. Schoolwork does not stop at the final bell, and the work completed at home often reinforces skills and drives achievement. Research shows that time spent on homework, especially in grades 7-12, can have a tremendous impact on student outcomes. Parents should work to make sure their children have the time,…
In our outreach and communication with fatherhood programs and dads throughout the country, there are a number of questions that often come up. Two in particular are: “Why do you talk so much about low-income dads?” and “Why do you focus so much on programs in large, urban areas?” One response to those questions is that the need for support is generally greater for low-income dads and many of the programs designed to help them are located in larger, urban population areas. However, we do recognize that there is innovative work being done elsewhere to meet the diverse needs of fathers,…
Unfortunately, divorce can bring out the worst in us. The biggest obstacles to successful co-parenting are emotions like anger, resentment, and jealousy. Those kinds of emotions make the challenge of co-parenting with your ex more difficult. However, your children still need their mother and their father—whether they still live together or not. Here are five things to remember to help you successfully co-parent together.
It is not about you…it is about your kids.If the adults involved just remember that it is about the kids, there would not be near as many challenges. Commit to…