Introduction
Fatherhood is the biggest challenge a man can take on in our society. Any man can become a father on the virtue of how sex has derived from it natural intentions of reproducing, to a form of temporary satisfaction or lust. Many men become fathers of a child rather it was their true intention or an unexpected occurrence following lust. Myself not too long ago was blessed with the opportunity of becoming a father. God has other plans for me and my girlfriend and now I am not in a position of fatherhood or the expectancy. For this assignment, I researched and interviewed four peers of mine that are either fathers or expecting to be fathers. My intentions or this research is to find the answer to the question: “is fatherhood the greatest accomplishment, or worse anxiety of manhood”?
Process
To answer my question about fatherhood, I interview four peers of mine: two that are new fathers, and two that are expecting to be fathers. The two men who are expected fathers are my cousin Spencer, and his teammate in Oregon, Nick. Ironically, they are both 21-year-old college basketball players whose significant others, will be giving birth during the process of the basketball season. The question I asked them are as followed: “what are your feelings about becoming a father”, “how have you been involved in your wife’s or girlfriends’ pregnancy”, “what part will you play in your child’s birth”, “what part would you like to play”, “what do you think being a “good father”
Demographically, over 90% of the participants strongly agreed that fatherhood is crucial in our society. A little over 47% of fathers, that encouragement from the mothers of their children matters because of the obstacles they faced with finance, and their duties on the job. The final results of marital status statistics is over 80% married fathers, nine percent divorced, and six percent never married. One surprising statistic was 90% cohabitate with the mother and focal child (Glenn & Popenoe, 2006).
Jeffrey Cookston, the author, is a Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State University. The University of California at Berkeley trusted him to write this article. He offers tips to fathers in his article. He
The article “The Distinct, Positive Impact of a Good Dad” focuses a lot on the basic impact of how much of an influence a dad is to a child’s life. It explains the difference between how the father impacts the child’s life in a more “open arms” way whereas, a mother has a more “closed arms” impact. Having a good dad around in a child’s life is more likely to make for a better future for the kid, compared to a child who doesn’t have a good dad in their life or little to no dad at all they have a less likely chance for a better future as studies have shown. Studies have shown that mental health is a huge issue with both genders when they have a strong relationship with their father as to being in a household with a
It is during this time a father needs to be present to father, shape and mold his children (Jones, Kramer, Kim A., Teresa L., Armitage, Tracey, Williams, Keith, as cited in Wallerstein, 1980, 1987). On their 10 year follow up, Wallerstein and Kelley found that regardless of the time spent with a father or not, the father continued to be a significant presence psychologically to adolescents, particularly to boys (Jones et al., as cited in Wallerstein, Kelley, 1974). On Kelley and Wallerstein’s 25 year follow up of their now adult participants in their longitudinal study, they have found that the effects of fatherlessness and divorce during their adolescents were long lasting. The participants in the study by Wallerstein et al. (2000) noted that “The impact of divorce hits them most cruelly as they go in search of love, sexual intimacy, and commitment” (p. 299). These same participants also stated in an interview that they had anxiety issues about relationships and intimacy problems into adulthood (Jones et al., as cited in Wallerstein et al., 2000). Wallerstein et al. (2000) participants of the research also stated that they had resentment towards their parents, particularly the fathers who were seen “selfish and faithless” (p. 300).
How does a person come to decide if they want to be a parent or not? The formation of procreative identities in men and women is a complex topic with many influencing factors. Tamara G. Coon Sells set out to distinguish what some of these factors were in her study of 14 unmarried, childfree graduate students (2013, p. 133). Analyzing the narrative submissions of her sample, she was able to pinpoint 5 different themes impacting the development of both men’s and women’s procreative identity: biological, deterrents, fear, hesitation, and pressure (p. 144).
The introduction begins with quotes from people who mention that fathers get women pregnant and then leave the woman and the child; they mention that men need to realize their responsibilities do not end with conception. The book summarizes these quotes as unwed fatherhood is one of the leading social problems, and these men are irresponsible and “hit and run.” A CBS special report, The Vanishing Family, was an interview of McSeed, a father of six from four different women. In the interview, he says the responsibility of raising the child is on the mother, not him.
The study utilized a phenomenological research methodology to study the impact infertility has had on the couples lives. This method provides a clear portrayal of the meaning of parenthood for couples, the dynamics of relationships, and the thoughts and how the self is impacted by infertility.
What is a fathers “responsibility”? Is it to nurture, or is it to provide, maybe even he could do both? In the novel Your Fathers, Where Are They, and the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? Dave Eggers, describes trivial emotional and mental repercussions that occur when there is an absence of a father figure. Sons and daughters alike, any disconnection with a meaningful individual, supposedly relatable in blood, would bring question and concern. A fathers’ relationship and support can be beneficial to any child’s growth. Giving children a solid basis of what kinds of responsibilities go along with being an adult and showing them compassion individualism and what it means to “be a man” is important.
Since the time of Adam and Eve, parents have played a major role in upbringing children and reproducing more generations. In most societies, the father has been the backbone of the family and played a major role in providing support and stability to the family. Yet, the role of the father differs from a family to another. While some fathers focus only on feeding and educating their children, others focus on every aspect of their children’s lives. The father’s leadership often drives the children to have a close relationship with the father. Sons often see the father as their role model and build a father-son relationship. Yet, the father-son relationship can be either weak or strong depends on the father’s concept of parenthood. The
The absence of a father in a young women’s life is related to difficulties, including; health and welfare related problems, such as early sexual activity, greatly increased rates of adolescent pregnancy, poor school performance, and lowered self-esteem. Father absence is experienced as a sad and traumatic feature of life that cast a shadow over the childhood and lives of women and has caused ongoing distress, not only affecting their relationships with their fathers, but also the emotional relationships they developed with others (East, Jackson, & O'Brien,
For this interview project paper, I chose childbirth as my topic because it is related to the field that I want to pursue in my future career and I wanted to explore more about it. Having said that, I was given an opportunity to create my own questions that were correlated with childbirth and its relations to the domains of human development. I had the opportunity to interview a woman in her early adulthood, who recently gave birth to their second child here in Rockville, Maryland. After one hour of interviewing her over the phone, I was able to developed my thesis, introduction, supporting details, and conclusion for my paper based on my interviewee’s responses and experience about childbirth.
Taking children to practice, running to the store, going different directions give many challenges to parenthood. With that being said, there are many challenges that come from being a parent which will discussed from the article by Anna R. Pierce called, “Who’s Raising Baby?” The purpose of this paper is to critique the article that’s about challenges to modern- day parenting and analyze three weaknesses and one strength, as well as give an opinion on the topic.
This is a qualitative study that will examine the avenues for relief after experiencing the impact of paternity (Creswell. 2009).
I never thought of the teen father in the equation of parenting. The responsibility always lie with the mother just like in adulthood: but this article takes, a look at the father’s responsibility, and what society can do to help him become a better parent. Now I realize that the father is usually left of the parenting process and not offer the opportunity or resources to become an effective parent to their
Becoming a father is a life changing experience. Most fathers will remember that one special day for the rest of their lives, while other fathers say the day their child was born was the day their life as they knew it was over. After sitting down and interviewing three different fathers who had three very different experiences before and after child birth my eyes have been opened to the multiple views, experiences, memories, and feelings these three gentlemen have experienced or will soon experience. Mr. Snyder who is currently awaiting the birth of his first child in the spring of 2015 was the first man I interviewed. Mr. Celso is the second man I interviewed. Mr. Celso and his wife experienced a very emotional and nerve wrecking pregnancy and birth of their two 4 month old twins. Lastly, Mr. Shipley was the last man I interviewed. Mr. Shipley is a father of a one year old boy. Mr. Shipley’s experience of the birth of his child was much different then the other two gentlemen given that Mr. Shipley and the mother of his son are not in any type of relationship, nor were they during their child’s birth. Each of these men shared a lot of similarities as well as an abundance of differences regarding their children and soon to be children.