|
Washington Post Urges Men to ‘Go All In’ for Work and Family
By Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization
This article in the Washington Post strikes a blow for men as fathers (Washington Post, 6/6/15). Specifically, it’s about changing parental leave laws and policies to allow dads to spend meaningful time with their kids in the first weeks of life. That of course is a good idea. Mothers biologically bond with their children during pregnancy; fathers do so mostly after their kids are born when testosterone levels take a sharp dive and prolactin levels rise. And children need to see, hear and feel their dads early in their lives to form the usual child/father attachment.
So parental leave for fathers makes sense for dads and their kids.
But societal norms interfere with that. The WaPo article makes clear that expectations of men to be the breadwinner in the family intrude on the father-child dyad. It’s not news that fathers spend much more time at work than do mothers. That’s a behavioral norm that’s evolved over (potentially) millions of years in every known human culture. Read more…
| Share This Article: |
 |
 |
MN: FATHER Project Helps Dads Hone Parenting Skills
By Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization
In this culture that devalues fathers, it’s no surprise that often fathers devalue themselves. Popular culture routinely tells fathers that they’re anything from useless to dangerous to their kids. The law ups the ante, removing them from their children’s lives at the mere allegation of abuse or just because they weren’t the primary caregiver. Adoption laws all but invite mothers to give up their kids without the father’s consent. In over half the cases in which a child is taken from its mother by child protective agencies due to abuse or neglect, those agencies make no effort to contact the father as a possible custodian for the child.
Fathers have gotten the message. Even when they live with their kids, they usually take a backseat to Mom when it comes to childcare. And all too frequently, they assume they’re not needed, not wanted and not capable of being the kind of parent their children need — good, kind, loving and strong.
The FATHER Project in Minnesota seeks to turn those dads around, and it’s having an impact (Park Rapids Enterprise, 6/13/15). A program begun by Goodwill/Easter Seals of Minnesota, the FATHER Project has been around for four years, helping 225 dads during that time. Many of those, like Project director Joe Johnson, are products of the foster care system. Read more…
| Share This Article: |
|
|
UK: Father Reunited With Abducted Son
By Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization
Meanwhile, this article tells us that Roger Williams, who 17 days ago had his son Ethan taken on the run by the boy’s mother, was reunited with Ethan last Friday (Telegraph, 6/15/15). This past Monday, the court, after calling what mother Rebecca Minnock did “utterly irresponsible,” gave temporary custody to Williams. After almost three weeks on the lam, Minnock finally turned herself in to police. Whether she will be charged criminally is still undecided as are the precise terms of child custody and parenting time. Judge Mark Wildblood has vowed to work out an arrangement under which the child will have a meaningful relationship with each of his parents. That’s a good idea, but it may be difficult given Minnock’s prior attempts to remove Williams from his son’s life by leveling false allegations of abuse against him.
But for now, Williams and his son are together and the whole episode may now recede into the past.
| Share This Article: |
|
|
| 
