The Impact of Fathers

As we approach Fathers' Day in the USA, Work & Family Life newsletter (June 2007; www.workandfamilylife.com) addressed the issue of the difference dads make in the lives of children. As part of this, their writer, Kyle Pruett, MD, talked about the impact dad's have on children's development. Here are some examples...

• "Infants who had positive interactions with their fathers are more likely to explore the world around them with vigor and interest.  They tend to become more curious and less hesitant or fearful, especially in the face of novel or unusual stimuli.  The combination of a father's more active play initiation and his somewhat less immediate support in the face of frustration seems to promote adaptive and problem-solving competencies in a child.
• "By the time they start school, children with hands-on dads are better able to wait their turn for the teacher's attention.  Young children whose fathers were involved in a positive way have also been found to be less impulsive and to display more self-control in unfamiliar social situations.
• "Researchers in the 1950's studied a group of five-year-olds, focusing on their feelings of sympathy and compassion for other people. In a follow-up study 30 years later, they found that, as adults the strongest predictor of empathic concern for others was a high level of paternal care they received as children.
  
  

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  Working Forum on Men in Early Childhood Education
  
  
  At the 2007 World Forum in Malaysia, the leadership group for the World Forum Men in Early Childhood Education project met and launched the planning for a working forum to be held in Hawaii May of 2008.  This event will bring together men and women from around the world interested in promoting more gender balance in early childhood classrooms.  To learn more about the plans for this working forum, continue to watch ExchangeEveryDay for the official announcement as well as check in periodically at www.WorldForumFoundation.org/MECE

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