Fathers Matter

RickWhite said:

Of course Mothers matter. But most of the time it is the Father who leaves the home and not the Mother. Mothers are nurturers which is important and they serve as roll models for girls.

Fathers however serve a distinct purpose. It is males that commit nearly all the crime and cause all the trouble in society. It is the males that need the strong hand of another male. Consider the phrase "wait until your father gets home." Perhaps the most feared phrase in the world. "Wait until your mother gets home" doesn't quite have the same effect. Nor does "wait until your sister gets home." It is the fathers that young boys seek to emulate and from whom they derive their identity. Fathers are the ones who keep young men in line and teach them how to become men.

I am not convinced that women are as capable of doing that as are men due to the obvious; one can not teach something they themselves don't know.

Anyway, the statistics clearly demonstrate that intact families raise healthier children who are more likely to do well in school and less likely to get in trouble. And of course these things are very good determinants of the future earning of the child.

In recent years there has been an assault against the importance of fathers and an attempt to suggest that single parent homes and other alternative lifestyles such as cohabitation are just as good. The research shows that this simply isn't true.

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RickWhite said:

Years ago things were so simple. If kids went bad, it was automatically (and correctly) attributed to the absence of a Father. Then along came the Feminists and political correctness and we couldn't say that anymore. To imply that in some way a Father (a man) held a particularly important roll in the development of a child was considered sexist.

Now, Father no longer knows best. Now Fathers are portrayed as lazy idiots while Mothers are portrayed as the backbone of the family. Watch The Simpsons or Family Guy if you don't believe me. It's so sad.

Research however, shows that Fathers in fact play an indispensable roll in childhood development with things like delinquency, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and a host of other social ills being linked to Fatherless homes.

Below is a simple Google search that shows numerous results to this effect. The question that remains is why there are so many people still trying to promote the fraudulent notion that Fathers don't matter. Have we really become so ignorant that we fail to recognize even the most simple of life's truths or are we all just products of indoctrination?




http://www.google.com/search?q=the+role+of+fathers+in+child+development&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGIE_en

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redivider said:

Rickwite put a post that said FEMINISM CAME ALONG TO UNDERMINE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FATHER.

feminism came along because most of the men were in Europe fighting world war 2.

the women left behind were doing the men's work, exactly the same work, for less money, were treated like garbage, AND a whole host of other factors.

Then when the men came back from the war they expected women, who had held the country up for a couple of years, to just go back home, and let the men in charge.

a lot of married women did, but the single ones who felt they did not need a man to survive, they just needed a job, put up a fight.

to assume that the feminist movement had something to do with undermining fathers is ignorant at best.

it was a movement based on social equality. if it somehow had some sort of effect (which is probably minimal) on the make-up of a traditional family, it was an unintended consequence, collateral damage if you will...

my opinions on the subject are shared by the comic George Carlin: women want the same wages, same jobs, same benefits, same everything, but when you go out on a date who pays?? 'nuff said....

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Stoney McFried said:

Redivider eloquently answered your attack on feminism;I have nothing to add in that regard.
I think it's great if kids have a good father who is willing to be a dad and take an interest in the kid.Fathers can be great.But fathers are not essential to the well being of a child; if a kid has a shitty dad who doesn't want them, or is too violent or neglectful to be around,then it is definitely better for the child to be without a dad.(This goes for either parent, not just dads.) Lots of kids get raised by grandparents,older siblings, aunts, uncles,etc,and grow up to be healthy and well adjusted human beings.A single parent who is loving and nurturing is far more valuable than a pair of dysfunctional, abusive, maladjusted shits who have nothing more going for them than being accepted as the "traditional" model of parenting because they happen to be of the opposite sex and are married.
I say that it's far better for a child's development to be loved and cared for,to be taught and guided by an adult who loves them and is committed to that child's well being. If it's a mom, great, if it's a dad, awesome, if it's both parents, terrific.Boys and girls know how to be boys and girls because it's in their genes.Just because a boy doesn't like to play sports doesn't make him any less of a boy;just because a girl does doesn't make her any less of a girl.You don't 'learn' gender,you learn behavior.

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RickWhite said:

I never said Mothers were not equally important; they are important for different reasons. Mothers provide essential nurturing which balances the discipline of the Father perfectly. That is the whole point. It is the contributions of Mothers and Fathers together that create a perfect balance that children need. Really I have a hard time wrapping my brain around how people can be so myopic when it comes to something so obvious. Do none of you remember what being a child was like? None of you remember the comfort of your Mother and the discipline of your Father? You can't see why both are important?

Also, all these posts about how a great single parent (or what ever) is better than two crappy ones is kind of silly. Generally when you make a comparison you do so with all other things being equal.

For example: You wouldn't argue that a well maintained scooter will win a race over a Ferrari with a blown engine, and therefore scooters are faster than Ferraris. To make that argument would be silly.

Divorce is harmful to children according to statistics. Mothers that remarry or cohabetate with men subject their daughters to monumental risk of molestation. This is a statistical fact. The Brady bunch version of remarriage isn't a reality. Most arrangements of this type wind up being nightmares for the children. That is the simple truth of the matter.

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Stoney McFried said:

See, you're trying to lock people into predefined roles.The father as the Authoritarian, the mother as the Nurturer.It's kinda sexist.Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't effectively discipline my kids.Just because my boyfriend is a man doesn't mean he can't effectively nurture them.These are archaic stereotypes regarding gender roles in child rearing, and most rational people have realized by now how limiting and inconsequential they really are.
http://www.childmolestationprevention.org/pdfs/study.pdf

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Stoney McFried said:

See, you're trying to lock people into predefined roles.The father as the Authoritarian, the mother as the Nurturer.It's kinda sexist.Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't effectively discipline my kids.Just because my boyfriend is a man doesn't mean he can't effectively nurture them.These are archaic stereotypes regarding gender roles in child rearing, and most rational people have realized by now how limiting and inconsequential they really are.
Biological fathers molest their children, too, so that argument is thrown out the window.In fact, according to this study, 68 percent of abusers abuse children within their own family.In other words, blood relatives-i.e. biological fathers.1 in 20 males are child molesters, as compared to 1 in 3300 women.How's that shoot your gender based argument in the foot?Statistically then, kids would be better off with mothers.If we were to go by statistics.And with stepfathers, were we going by the statistics.Sounds to me like you're arguing for divorce to be harder to obtain, and that sounds like it may be based on a personal religious belief.Well, it seems 93 percent of molesters identify themselves as religious.Hmm.Seems we're just knocking down your little stereotypes aren't we?And as to your assertion that gays shouldn't adopt in another thread because of the greater risk of molestation,it seems 70 percent of the child molesters who molest children of the same sex identify themselves as heterosexual.Gee!Seems like nothing you've said is correct...where do you get your research from?Do you just say what you believe,and not offer links to back it up?How many kids do you have?http://www.childmolestationprevention.org/pdfs/study.pdf

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RickWhite said:

It also says that "70% of MEN who molest BOYS report being heterosexual."

(WTF?) I've got news for your esteemed researchers; 100% of men who molest boys are Homosexual.

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RickWhite said:

The father is the authoritarian because "wait until your mother gets home" isn't scary. Really all that talk of stereotypes is silly Leftist nonsense. A man is a man and a woman a woman - deal with it.

As for your little one PDF, I think you misinterpreted your own data.

The PDF says that 68% of molesters molest members of the family or "children they parent." Notice it does not say "their own children." That is because most of the time it is a step father or boyfriend doing the molesting, just as I have stated. Your PDF curiously omits that little tidbit but supports my earlier statement none the less.

It also says that "70% of MEN who molest BOYS report being heterosexual."

(WTF?) I've got news for your esteemed researchers; 100% of men who molest boys are Homosexual.

Try to find some better info. Also, please use at least one space in between sentences and try to use paragraphs. I have a hard time reading our posts.

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RickWhite said:

Great piece on radical Feminism and marriage.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/bg1662.cfm

Here is an excerpt:

Marriage has profound positive effects on the well-being of children. Children raised by single mothers are 14 times more likely to suffer serious physical abuse than children raised in intact, married families. Children raised in single-parent homes are much more likely to be depressed and to have developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems; such children are more likely to fail in school, use drugs, and engage in early sexual activity. They are also more likely to become involved in crime and to end up in jail as adults.74

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