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.
As the old adage goes, we must hope for the best while still preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods happen all too often in our communities. However, initiatives such as National Disaster…
What are you planning to do with your family this weekend? Or next weekend? Or the weekend after that? Coordinating schedules and managing our time is a big part of parenting. Between bringing kids to practice or afterschool activities, having mom and dad on different work schedules, and handling an inevitable child care disruption, it can be easy to lose sight of the importance of making the effort to create time for you and your kids.
With such busy schedules in mind, the NRFC Activities of the Week is filled with ideas on…
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” --Mr. Rogers
Children often pretend play about occupations that they find interesting. Police officers, veterinarians, princesses, firemen, and soldiers can all be found playing together in any nursery or playground. Pretend play is extremely important in the development of children.
From Bright…
The 2016 theme for the Children’s Bureau’s National Foster Care Month is “Honoring, Uniting, and Celebrating Families.” This year's theme highlights the important benefits to children and youth when they're connected and reunited with family and, in particular, their fathers. Many fathers want to do more than pay child support,1 they want to have healthy connections with their children and be an equal parent. Youth, especially those who have been placed in out-of-home care, truly benefit from a consistent and healthy relationship…
On Mother’s Day, many fathers seek ways to honor the mothers of their children. Sometimes, there is not a mom in the equation but another adult who plays an important role in the child’s life who deserves appreciation, such as a grandmother or aunt. Here are four fun ways for parents and children to celebrate the day:
Brunch Mother’s Day is synonymous with brunch for many people. But if you have young children, going to a crowded, potentially overbooked restaurant can be more of a strain than a treat. Instead of a reservation, consider making a meal at home. By planning and cooking…
Mothers have a pretty thankless job. They are the backbone of the family—the glue that holds it together so to speak. Single moms especially are generally overworked and underappreciated. The truth is without mom; most kids would suffer mightily and fail to thrive to their full potential. Therefore, it’s vitally important that mom know how much everyone appreciates her and all the things she does. Here are five ways for dads to show mom how thankful you are she’s around.
Give her some time alone—take the kids Most moms dream about having some quiet time around the house. Offer to…
The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently released Focus,with six articles that examine the issues of paternal incarceration and its affects on fathers and their children during and after imprisonment. The issue of parental incarceration is of great concern for several reasons. First and foremost is the sheer numbers: On any given day in America, it is estimated that more than 1.7 million children under 18 years old have a parent incarcerated in a state (52%) or federal prison (63%)—91% of all incarcerated parents are fathers.1…
In addition to the obstacles that almost all former offenders are faced with, men who have children encounter an especially difficult set of hurdles, when reentering society. As someone who has worked on the issue of re-entry in numerous capacities, and as the older sister of three brothers who have been incarcerated, I have developed a deeper understanding of the supports needed by these fathers to help them succeed as parents, both during and after incarceration.
Although it is often disheartening to see how often the policy lags behind the realities of what men face when trying…
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…