Working Thesis: In African American families, some fathers don’t understand the importance of being present and participating in their children’s lives. The intention of this essay is to show that an absent father can extensively affect their children mentally and physically. It will be debated that inattentive fathers should be willing to make a change for the lives of their children.
Blow, Charles M. "Black Dads Are Doing Best of All." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 June 2015. Web. Mr. Charles Blow, the author of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, is a New York Tomes Op-Ed columnist. In his opinion piece Black Dads Are Doing Best of All, he clearly states that African American fathers are doing better than any other race in living in
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Statistics show that most absent fathers are serial fathers meaning that the father and mother holds a romantic relationship. There are twenty four million children that are raised in homes without their biological father. “Family churning” is when a couple splits in a family and the father moves out and a new man moves in. Fathers have an effect on children that makes them tend to be more academically stronger than those without a father. Not only does absent fathers cause short term problems but they also can cause the child to have long term problems like drug use. Children who are not in contact with their fathers are more likely to be treated for behavioral and emotional problems. Also girls are more likely to become a pregnant teen if the father is not pregnant. As concluded it is said that children’s relationships will be healthy if the mother and father have a content relationship. I can use this source by using the data and statistics provided in the …show more content…
He is also the author of five books including The Hunger of the Wolf and How Shakespeare Changed Everything. Stephen Marche is arguing that American fatherlessness is a national disaster. Fatherlessness effects suicide, incarceration risk and mental health issues. It is said that many new age fathers have fathering relatively easy compared to fathering in the 1960s. The new age fathers nurture and provide food and shelter and plays with the baby. The role of a father is to be there for the child physically and mentally. This article could help me in my essay because it goes into the history of fathering and the vast changes throughout the
Among the young, it seems like there is an epidemic of bad behaviors. Teenagers aren’t finishing high school, they are getting knocked up, and going to prison/jail. In his “Pound Cake Speech” Bill Cosby addresses these issues to the African American community. His speech was an emotional view of parenting these days. Bill Cosby argues that the 50 percent dropout rate in schools is because of parenting, children not speaking English grammatically is because of parenting, children having children is because of parenting, and children carrying guns and ending up in prison is because of parenting. The parenting he says, of the lower and middle economic classes of African Americans is the reason why these things are happening. He blames poor parenting for these issues. However, Cosby fails to take into account that these issues are wider than poor parenting. African American children face these problems not due to the lack of care and concern from their parents, but due to the lack of resources that their parents can use to provide for them.
The role of the father, a male figure in a child’s life is a very crucial role that has been diminishing over the years. An absent father can be defined in two ways; the father is physically not present, or the father is physically present, but emotionally present. To an adolescent, a father is an idolized figure, someone they look up to (Feud, 1921), thus when such a figure is an absent one, it can and will negatively affect a child’s development. Many of the problems we face in society today, such as crime and delinquency, poor academic achievement, divorce, drug use, early pregnancy and sexual activity can be attributed to fathers being absent during adolescent development (Popenoe, 1996; Whitehead, 1993). The percentage of adolescents growing up fatherless has risen from 17% to 36% in just three decades between 1960 and 1990 (Popenoe, 1996). Dr. Popenoe estimates this number will increase to approximately 50% by the turn of the century (Popenoe, 1996). The US Census Bureau reported out of population of 24 million children, 1 out 3 live in a home without a father (US Census Bureau, 2009).
Hyman, Herbert H., and John S. Reed. "Black Matriarchy" Reconsidered: Evidence From Secondary Analysis of Sample Surveys." The Public Opinion Quarterly 33.3 (1969): 346-54. JSTOR. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
In this article, the editors discussed the social trends and how they can change in nature of father involvement. They tested how children today will make their expectations taking upon a role of mother and father. Increase in father absence is associated with poor school achievement, reduced involvement in labor force, early childbearing, and high risk-taking behaviors. In addition, boys without fathers will experience problems with their sexual orientation and gender identity, school performance, psychosocial adjustment, and self-control. The editors differentiated the girls by how affected they were without fathers.
Fatherless has been one of the most important challenges and epidemics in our generation. The effects of growing up...
Although single parenthood is on the rise in homes today, children still often have a father role in their life. It does not matter who the part is filled by: a father, uncle, older brother, grandfather, etc...; in almost all cases, those relationships between the father (figure) and child have lasting impacts on the youth the rest of their lives. In “I Wanted to Share My Father’s World,” Jimmy Carter tells the audience no matter the situation with a father, hold onto every moment.
According to results, a parent’s approach to parenting is highly influenced by a family’s social and economic status and condition. The popularity of the disciplinary approach is mostly due to the challenges that a black family faces on a daily basis such as racism, discrimination, and poverty.
“Men’s greater involvement at home is good for their relationships with their partner and also good for their children. Hands-on fathers make better parents than men who let their wives do all the nurturing and child care” (Coontz 99). Coontz believed that if men come home after work and share the chores with their wife, then they will have stronger bonds and the marriage will stay longer. Children’s are very observant, therefore they will learn valuable lessons from both of their parents. Carver showed how his father not being involved in the family has affected his relationship with his
This research paper will explore primarily the impact of African American single-parent households on the children that live in these environments. This is a very important issue and more awareness is needed. Research has provided evidence that single-parent households are one of many risk factors that can negatively affect a child’s educational outcome, emotional health and social behavior. Although not all single-parent family households have disadvantages, the focus of his study is to shed more light on the issues and offer solutions. For example, more policies are needed to reinforce fathers to pay child support. This alone will provide mothers with more money to help them better raise their children.
Dr. Haim Ginott, a renowned Psychologist, mentor and a teacher once remarked, “Children are like wet cement; whatever falls on them makes an impression.” Thus, the effects of absent fathers on children may in fact, shape their perception of the world around them. Even though developing a stronger relationship with one parent is an effect of absenteeism fathers, it also comes with the challenges of engaging in early sexual activities, diminished cognitive development and poor school performance, which are effects exhibited by many daughters.
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
A father is someone who protects, loves, supports and raises his children, whether they are biologically related or not. Every single person living on the Earth has a biological father. These biological fathers are supposed to take the responsibility of being a father because they did help bring a child into this world. One of the main responsibilities of a father is providing the child with the necessities of life, which include food, shelter, and clothes. Not only is a father responsible for the physical aspect but the emotional aspect as well. Children need to feel loved, cared for, and emotional support from their parents. A child needs to be reassured, so a father must show his affection, both physically and emotionally. A father needs to be involved in his children’s life. He needs to be a problem solver, playmate, provider, preparer, and he has to have principles. A father has to pr...
Rowe, Daryl M. "Marriage And Fathering: Raising Our Children Within The Context Of Family And Community." Black Scholar 37.2 (2007): 18-22. Academic Search Elite. Web.
Prior to the period of slavery, the majority African family structure was in the realm of 2-parent households and was the main importance for everyone. However, during the period of slavery and beyond, the 2-parent household has been transformed and its looming effects are still in place today. The effects include the phenomenal increase in female-headed households and also the increase in households with individual living by himself or herself. African-American family structure has been inconsistent, and it has a tremendous impact on the children. Statistics have shown that African American males growing up without a father are more likely to end up in prison (Krampe & Newton, 2012). It is important, as the children are dependent on the family in terms of obtaining success in the future. In addition, the single-parent mother ends up taking new roles as mother and father for the child. This topic has many aspects, which showcase the prominent influence in
Essentially, this paper will discuss how being in a one parent or two parent household affects black children. It will talk about why it is such a big problem in the African American community. It will have a variety of ways children can be raised. It will go into very deep detail of how the children feel. Facts that tell what percent of black households only have one parent and two parents will also be talked about. Solutions as to solve this problem will be discussed in depth.