Child Development: Fathers Play a Major Role
- Binish Ahmed
- May 10, 2016
- 3 min read
Someone has rightly said that a father is his son’s first hero and his daughter’s first love. A father influences every member’s lives in the entire family. He is a role model and set examples through his relationships with his children and his better half. A father plays a crucial role in a child’s development. While almost any guy can father a child, there is so much more to the imperative part of being a dad in a child’s life. Child with Father Performs Better at School
When a father is involved in a child’s development, especially the education, the child learns more, performs better in school, and displays healthier behavior. A study in 2001 revealed that children whose fathers were highly involved in every aspect of the children’s education were more likely to do excel at school. On the other hand, a child living without a father was more likely to repeat the class, the study added.
Spending Quality Time with the Child
Everyone has 24 hours a day available, make the time and make yours count. A quality time can be spent anywhere and anytime. A father should listen closely to the child. Likewise, he should plan things to do together as a family or by himself or with friends. The impact of this is enormous on the child’s development. Not only does this develops a stronger bond between father and child but the child feels important, loved and has a chance to voice their thoughts and emotions.
Psychology and Social Behavior Impacted
A child who has an involved father is more likely to be emotionally secure, be self-confident to explore his surroundings, and gradually as he grows older, he has better social connections with peers. A study involving school going children found that children who have good relationships with their fathers were less likely to experience disruptive behavior and more likely to showcase pro-social behavior. Therefore, a father has a powerful impact on the child’s development in context to emotional and social behavior of the child.
Father is a Protector
Maybe it's the size, strength, or predisposition to protect, nonetheless a father appear to be better at keeping predators and bad influences from harming the child. When a father is more involved, he can monitor better what's going on in his child’s life, including the interaction with peers and adults. Different researches have proved that sons who have protective father are less likely to take up alcohol and daughters are more ambitious in their career.
A Disciplinarian
A father helps a child learn proper boundaries and consequences. This is an important aspect for child’s development. When the child makes grave mistakes, a father punishes him. This certainly does not mean he should be physically and verbally cruel. This implies that the child has done some severe blunders and a father makes sure that are consequences for that particular action go unharmed. It is important for a child to realise that his father is a strict disciplinarian and he can’t pull a fast one on him.
A Father is a Guiding Light
A father is someone who loves his children even when they’re at their worst. A child’s development is drastically influenced with the father figure. A child with involved father has an upper hand -- socially and academically -- over a child with distant or no relationships with his father. A good father makes all the difference in a child's development. He's a tower of strength, support and discipline. His job to take care of his children is never-ending and, most of the times, unappreciated. But in the end, he reaps the joy and benefits of the well-adjusted children he raises.
