Parent Power!
Helping You Make Sense of Schooling Today

Website of the Month: www.fatherhood.org

National Fatherhood Initiative: 
The NFI works to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children growing up with loving, committed and responsible fathers.

     Their website offers fathers valuable information from professionals, an opportunity to share opinions and advice, and a forum in which they can interact with other fathers.

Why Many Fathers Are Going to School

Once upon a time, Dad's role was to work, put food on the table and a roof over the family's head, and discipline his children for serious offenses.
          Mom was the one that spent most of her time with their children, volunteering at school, at practice and simply "hanging out." While times have changed, and more moms work, mothers are still more firmly entrenched in school-related activities than fathers.
          That may be changing.
          Frustrated with dismal test scores, fathers in a rough suburb of San Francisco joined together to form a private tutoring program for their sons called the African-American Academic Achievement Committee. Four AC left teachers speechless after only a few months. Student's skills and performances improved dramatically, as well as their attitude towards school. Teachers even expect the students' scores on standardized tests to increase from last year's, when 87 percent of their boys scored beneath the 50th percentile.
          The program is working so well that administrators from other school districts are flocking to the Black Diamond Middle School to observe how the fathers work with these children. "I can tell which kids in my class have been getting the tutoring," one teacher told The Washington Times. " They have a better attitude in class than they used to, and their grades have gone up in almost every case."
          What about fathers in the classroom? In researching her book, "Ask the Children: What America's Children Really Think About Working Parents," Ellen Galinsky found that children want their fathers much more involved at school. "It is not just in the home that children want the engagement of their fathers," she states. Seventy-one percent of the children interviewed credited their mom with being involved with their school. The percent was much lower for fathers.
          In "The Educated Child," author William Bennett tells the story about a professor who overheard a conversation that his son was having at school. They were talking about their parents and their occupations. One child boasted that his daddy was a doctor and made a lot of money. Another boy bragged that his dad flew to Washington and talked to the President. Then the professor's child exclaimed, as if there was nothing greater, "My daddy is here!" with a proud look in his father's direction.
          Unfortunately, dads remain an under-utilized resource for ensuring academic success in their children. According to research by the U.S. Department of Education, children whose dads are highly involved in their school are significantly more likely to earn mostly A's. When fathers show interest in their child's school and schoolwork, it is natural for the child to show a greater interest in his or her studies.
          Your kids might not always let you in on this secret. Talk to them. The common belief is that as they get older, children want to spend less time with their parents. Galinsky found that the opposite is true. Kids told her that they feel they don't spend enough time with their fathers!