Los Angeles, CA–Here’s a good (with one exception) story about a good outreach program that tries to get fathers more involved in their kids’ schooling.
The exception is that the story refers to “a small but growing body of controversial research” that shows kids do better in school with active father involvement. That body of research of course is neither small nor controversial as any reader of GlennSacks.com would know.
That said, there’s no shortage of evidence of society’s barriers to father involvement in the lives of their children. Historically, children and child care have mostly been the purview of women. We’ve made great strides toward integrating women into the workplace, but done much less to bring men into the realm of children and child care. The result is that, although women’s workplace rights equal men’s, fathers’ rights still lag behind mothers’ and behind what they should be.
Women are often hostile to greater involvement by fathers in the lives of children. That’s not fair and it’s not right, but it’s somewhat understandable. After all, women have for centuries been told that their greatest value is as a caregiver to children. It can’t be easy to turn that role over to dad.
So give a cheer for articles like these about programs like these. Each is a small step in the right direction.