Sometimes—especially with sons—you have to "play hardball." If you're a father of boys, you have my prayers. They'll make you proud, but they also may make you crazy.
Talking With a Teenage Son
So it’s time for you to sit down and have a face-to-face chat with your teenage son. Actually, there might be a better option.
The public service announcements on television make it sound like the best approach is to just start a conversation about drugs or alcohol at the breakfast table. But most teenagers would just roll their eyes—and probably tune you out.
Nurturing Sons
The greatest gift a nurturing father gives his sons is a healthy model of what it means to be a boy, a man, and a father. Boys and girls both need their father's affection. But with boys it may be harder for dads to openly show it, even those fathers and sons who spend lots of companionship time together.
Boys and Gender Differences
Value Your Daughter’s Opinions
Do you expect more out of your son or your daughter?
I got to know Nicole Gallagher over the phone when she was a behind-the-scenes producer for the ABC News program American Agenda. They were working on a piece that focused on fathering.
Show Your Daughter What a Good Husband Is
Imagine you could fast-forward your daughter’s life fifteen or twenty years. She’s thirty-five, and you get to see her coming in the door from grocery shopping with three young kids. Clearly, the outing has been stressful.
“My Dad Holds the Key”
In recent weeks, several of our staff have been looking at ways to improve our fathering seminars and Father~Daughter Summits. The process has included survey requests to some of you, as well as interviews with partners, volunteers, and people who have attended these events.
Daughters need their dads, too
There’s a growing awareness of a father’s importance in the life of his daughter. Both the academic world and the general population are recognizing that a dad’s influence goes beyond the “little girl” years into adulthood, and is an important complement to her mom’s vital role.
A Father's Heart for Daughters
There are a lot of reasons for you to be a loving father to your daughter. She'll have a more positive view of men in general. More self-esteem as a woman. She's more likely to stay sexually pure until marriage and have a more healthy view of sexuality.
Your Daughter Needs Your Affection
Little girls are cute. Boys are cute too, but it seems natural to cuddle little girls more than boys and, in fact, parents do tend to pick up and hold daughters more than sons. But before you know it, your little girl has become a young woman, and nurturing her isn't easy, but more like scary. Now you're a little edgy around her, and careful not to do anything that could be misinterpreted in any way. But your daughter is still yearning for your affection and approval.
For Dads of Dating Daughters
It’s a scary time for dads, but it’s also a great opportunity because it forces us to address issues and questions that can be a little awkward.
Ask Your Daughter Questions
We interviewed 33 young women (ages 13-24) and asked them, among other questions, “What questions could your dad ask you to demonstrate that he really cares about what’s going on in your life?”
Categories
Welcome to the fathers.com fathering library.
Protecting Your Children
One New Year’s weekend, three girls in their early teens were walking home from a neighborhood store. As they approached their subdivision, a young man about 18 years old exposed (flashed) himself to them. They hurried home, shocked by what occurred. One girl’s father...
Share Your Attitudes About Sex
Are you getting ready for that big birds-and-the-bees talk, dad? That talk is important, but you can't stop there. A study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence looked at 750 inner-city African American youth between the ages of 14 and 17. The researchers...
Raising Self-Controlled Sons
“Today’s men are obsessed with money, greed and sex. We will talk about the first two, somewhat, but the last one we avoid.” So writes author Archie Wortham. Wortham believes dads need to talk to other men about the challenges they have faced or are facing as men,...
Dads, we’re the remedy for a crisis
In a 2006 article, Orlando Sentinel columnist Kathleen Parker addressed America's "boy crisis." Many have recently drawn attention to statistics showing that boys are falling behind in school performance. Parker responded to a recent study which concluded that the...
Boys and “Band of Brothers”
A deluge of recent studies makes it clear that boys are vulnerable. They are falling behind in many key areas: SAT scores, reading proficiency and college attendance; and moving ahead in some undesirable statistics: emotional disturbance, school dropout and suicide...
Sons’ Rites of Passage
Some moments you and your son will remember forever. You're out in the country with your fourteen-year-old son, coming back from someone's house. You pull the car over to the side of the deserted dirt road and turn off the ignition. "Dad, what's going on?" your son...
Hard Ball and Sons
by Ken Canfield, Ph.D. Sometimes—especially with sons—you have to "play hardball." If you're a father of boys, you have my prayers. They'll make you proud, but they also may make you crazy. One of the key areas you need to address with your sons is their...
Talking With a Teenage Son
So it’s time for you to sit down and have a face-to-face chat with your teenage son. Actually, there might be a better option. The public service announcements on television make it sound like the best approach is to just start a conversation about drugs or alcohol at...
Nurturing Sons
The greatest gift a nurturing father gives his sons is a healthy model of what it means to be a boy, a man, and a father. Boys and girls both need their father's affection. But with boys it may be harder for dads to openly show it, even those fathers and sons who...
Boys and Gender Differences
Despite the movement of our culture towards androgyny, we are all well aware of the unique contributions and the unique differences between men and women, boys and girls. No matter what any clinical psychologist or researcher might say, there are distinct, observable,...
Value Your Daughter’s Opinions
by Ken Canfield, Ph.D. Do you expect more out of your son or your daughter? I got to know Nicole Gallagher over the phone when she was a behind-the-scenes producer for the ABC News program American Agenda. They were working on a piece that focused on fathering. From...
Show Your Daughter What a Good Husband Is
Imagine you could fast-forward your daughter’s life fifteen or twenty years. She’s thirty-five, and you get to see her coming in the door from grocery shopping with three young kids. Clearly, the outing has been stressful. Her husband is lounging on the couch. The...