By Janice Shaw Crouse
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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This should be the final word –– 24 scholarly studies covering 22,300 separate sets of data published in the 20 years between 1987 and 2007 report essentially the same finding: active fathers are absolutely essential in preventing behavioral problems with boys and psychological problems in girls. With such a massive body of evidence the debate ought to be over and the findings established beyond question. Policymakers ought to make it a priority to strengthen marriage and reestablish marriage and family as the central building blocks of society. They should set about establishing a father-friendly culture and all aspects of society ought to do everything possible to promote father involvement with children and work assiduously to prevent father absence in America’s households. In fact, the authors of the review of all that research said as much. According to LifeSiteNews.com, the lead researcher, Dr. Anna Sardaki of Uppsala University’s Department of Women’s and Children’s Health in Sweden, said, “We hope that this review will add to the body of evidence that shows that enlightened father-friendly policies can make a major contribution to society in the long run by producing well-adjusted children and reducing major problems like crime and antisocial behavior.”   Lena Girardi, 1 1/2, grabs a baseball for her father, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, as the family played on the field following the team's first spring training workout for pitchers and catchers at Legends Field in Tampa, Florida, February 15, 2008. REUTERS/Steve Nesius (UNITED STATES)
The review of the studies was published in the February issue of the peer-reviewed journal Acta Paediatrica by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden. The majority of the studies (18 out of 24) included analyses of the socio-economic status of the families studied. Those analyses showed that “regular positive contact” with the father “reduces criminal behavior among children in low income families and enhances cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning and language development.” In other words, when a father is around, the kids learn to behave, obey laws and end up learning more. Having both a mother and a father present in the home and active in the children’s upbringing keeps them in line and reaps positive behavioral and psychological benefits. The benefits include very practical outcomes like having children who are less likely to smoke or get in trouble at school or with the police. Such fortunate children do better academically and develop good friendships with other children. Perhaps the most significant of the findings for women is that by the time they turned 33 years of age, those girls who had a good relationship with their father when they were 16 years of age had a “greater sense of mental and physical well-being” and “better relationships with a partner” when they became adults. With all the evidence in the massive Swedish report about the importance of having fathers present in the family, we should be very concerned about America’s children. Every year more than one million children are separated from one or the other parent by divorce, and many more are added to that total by unmarried biological parents, with some cohabiting for awhile and then simply deciding to stop living together. In 2006, some 1.6 million births (38.5 percent of all births) were to unmarried mothers. Some of these unmarried mothers will eventually marry the father of their child, but those who do not add to the rising number of children who are being raised without the presence of their biological father. In fact, the United States leads the world in the percentage of mother-only families. In 2006, about 28 percent of all children were being raised in single-parent families, and children being raised in a mother-only family where the woman has never been married make up over 43 percent of all single-parent children. The rapidly increasing numbers of single-mother and divorced mom households represent a tidal wave of change, all of it posing an increased risk to the children’s well being. For centuries, we have viewed marriage as a sacred institution and the foundation for family –– a covenant between a man and a woman and God that is honored by people across the faith traditions. It is also a legal contract carrying both responsibilities and privileges. Marriage between a man and a woman is the essential foundation for “family” –– a group of related individuals bound together by the marriage covenant between a man and a women, birth, blood and/or adoption. Thus, family is a unique relationship characterized by love and commitment, rather than convenience and choice. It is no coincidence that as the nation has changed its definition of marriage and family to eliminate the necessity for fathers, it has also increased the number of vulnerable children. |
10 comments on Children DO need Fathers
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What a warped and twisted point of view; all American children have a "father" and all mothers have a "husband" -- the great and mighty Dem-Lib welfare system. What more could anyone need or want??? To live as cattle waiting for the next government handout??? yeah oh yeah !!!!
Last night I heard a women ( Mother of three) call in to a show I had on the radio.She was serious when she stated how unhappy she was due to the fact she thought our laws were unjust pertaining to how hard it was to become an American Citizen for the father of 'one' of her childern,(note I wrote one child,her other childern 'each' have their own dad) When asked if this man she was speaking of was living at home and supporting them,the answer was no,but really he was living with them,not working for fear of getting caught.When asked why this man wasn't trying to become a legal immigrant,she said it was because he has a record of arrests for being caught for bringing illegal drugs across the Mexican Border..Now This is a DUH !!!!!!
We have one mother without a clue,but knows shes angry at the American goverment,yet this goverment is taking care of hers and her childerns needs from food to healthcare,etc... On our,the taxe payers money...Why didn't she get angry at the first man who left her with a child to fend for alone and call it quits then and there???
Reason why I write this is because with just this one case,we have three kids growing up without a Dad at home.Each with same mom and each a different dad..Thier mom isn't very smart,and no dad so what kind of a life are they facing for the first 4/5 years of thier lives...I see lots of problems ahead for these kids..And this is just one case out of so many,its a very over whelming problem for this country...And WE,you and me have issues with Health Care!!!!!
This is just one aspect of Childern without Dads.... It makes me so sad for these poor kids...
YUP !!!! I do cry for them!!! It makes my heart heavy when I hear and read of this stuff...
Oh Yes you are right,and there are so many folks out there who would give childern a wonderful home life... My mother inlaw took in foster childern for years..While the kids were waiting for a adoptive family..She wanted to keep each and everyone of those childern..When they left my inlaws home they had a great start on life.. God bless her and my father inlaw...
There's a "deep structure" connection between seemingly unrelated things: making divorce easier; the sexual "Revolution"; unisex styles; the revolt against authority (think of those bumper stickers you saw for decades: "Question Authority"); the legalization of the slaughter of the unborn; feminazism; and now the push for legalized "marriage" between perverts. Yes, it's abysmally destructive of human society and welfare of the community. But more importantly, it's a rebellion against The Father of all Creation. In His place (since the need for authority is built into the very fabric of the universe---"nature abhors a vacuum") the global Maoists will insert themselves and their bloody scimitars.
Of course, those who believe His Word know that ultimately the Master Maoists will be cut off. But in the meantime, what wretched misery they will create, what unspeakable monstrosities they will wreak on their poor vassals! (I hope I will be defunct by then.)
Indeed it all started with taking GOD out of the AMERIACN LIFE !!!!!