The Cyclical Impact

I came across this article that reiterates some of my previous sentiments entitled, "The Footsteps We Leave: Fathers & Sons".  In it Mr. Johnson makes a very good argument here.  He argues the cyclical impact that fatherlessness has.  We have to consider that it is not one generation impacted, but like a domino affect can impact numerous lives.  One point that illustrates this in  particular is the story of men in prison coming from a legacy of fatherlessness.  

Forgotten Fathers

Go ahead I dare you.  I dare you to look up "fathering" on the Internet.  I did a google search on "fathering" and came up with lots of unflattering stories about fathers who have raped and killed their children, deadbeat dads that don't pay their child support and other sundry activities.  But when I type in "mothering" I get a much different picture.  I had to search a lot harder to find anything negative.  

Hmmm.... why is that?  Why is it that dads so often get the bad wrap?  I could be mad at the media, but I gave up that habit a long time ago - around the time I stopped watching television (a practice I highly recommend).  No I know that we men are a large part of the blame.  Too many men really aren't men.  Sure they have the appropriate Y chromosome, but being a man, especially a father is so much more than that.  Unfortunately, because more and more sons are being raised without fathers, they are becoming increasingly unsure of what that looks like.  And don't forget the daughters, when they are raised without fathers they have a harder time knowing what fatherly qualities to look for in a man.  Overall when a dad is missing it has it's impact, a topic I will address here in this blog.  

Now I mentioned before that men had some of the blame here, but I think the media has it's fair share too.  I say media because I am not exactly sure who to point my finger at.  However, I believe it is those that say that father's are unnecessary, that they can be easily replaced or that they need to be less like dads and more like moms - call it the demasculization of men (also more to come in another post).  

This blog will talk about fathering and why social policy needs to support it.  Let the debates, uh I mean discussions begin.