Why Are Fathers Important?

Interview by Mario Seiglie

About Dr. Parke
Dr. Ross Parke is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside . He has more than 30 years of experience researching and writing about fatherhood and is the father of seven children. He is the author of Fatherhood (1966) and co-author of Throwaway Dads(1999).

The Good News: You have spent decades studying father-child relationships. What has most impressed you about those relationships?

Dr. Ross Parke: The most impressive thing is fathers are finally waking up to the fact that they do matter, and society is also recognizing it. Fathers as well as their wives are realizing fathers do play a unique and distinctive role not only in child rearing but in sharing the burden of daily child care as well, and that wasn't the case 30 or 40 years ago.

GN: What is the most encouraging trend about the father-child relationship?

RP: It is the recognition that fathers are not only important to kids, but that fathering is good for men as well as good for their partners. I think it is a major shift.

As men have become more concerned about balancing work and family, they have recognized the enormous benefits, rewards and satisfactions from being a good parent. They see that the emotional investment they make in their children comes back to them in terms of making them more open and more satisfied as an adult human being.

GN: What about the most discouraging trend you see about the parent-child relationship?

RP: While there has been some progress toward greater father involvement, it is by no means the revolution we envisioned 25 years ago. That is the point of the Throwaway Dads book, to spell out the kind of barriers that still exist in society, such as corporations and the workplace.

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn64/fathersimportant.htm

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