A few weeks ago I talked about some of the divine roles of men. I brought up the point that many forms of media spotlight men as being dumb, incapable of providing, lazy, and un-needed. That is so far from the truth. Today I will highlight a few more reasons men are far beyond a second adult in the home.
In the booklet called The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children it highlights topics such as the impact of; mother-father relationships on child outcomes, fathers on cognitive ability and educational achievement, and psychological well-being and social behavior - to name a few. I will expound upon each of those topics further and show 5 ways fathers impact their families lives.
The Impact of the Mother-Father Relationship on Child Outcomes
Did you know that one of the most important influences a father can have on his children is how he treats their mother? Think of it, if a father is best friends with his wife, he's a lot more likely to be involved in the children's events and activities and overall spend more time with them.
1. A father who treats his wife well sets up his sons for treating women properly for the rest of their lives, and teaches his daughters how they should be treated so they're more likely to avoid abuse in the future.
2. A mother who feels supported and loved by her husband is more likely to be a better wife and mother too. In fact, the quality of the husband-wife relationship impacts how they parent.
"They are more responsive, affectionate, and confident with their infants; more self-controlled in dealing with defiant toddlers; and better confidants for teenagers seeking advice and emotional support."1
The Impact of Fathers on Cognitive Ability and Educational Achievement
Many are familiar that when babies are first born one of the most important things a parent can do is have skin to skin contact with them. It helps release oxytocin for mom and baby, which helps the baby adapt to life outside the womb (calms its heart rate, helps regulate body temperature), and mom to contact her uterus which reduces bleeding. Dad's definitely help do some of the same things mom can with that contact.
3. From the first moment of life children are impacted by fathers and mothers behaviors. It helps them survive physically, and as they grow it helps them develop the cognitive, social, and emotional skills needed to go through life.
"Children with involved, caring fathers have better educational outcomes... They are more patient and can handle the stresses... associated with schooling more readily than children with less involved fathers."
The Impact of Fathers on Psychological Well-Being and Social Behavior
"From birth, children who have an involved father are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surroundings, and, as they grow older, have better social connections with peers."
4. The way fathers play with their children helps them develop emotionally and socially. The children learn to regulate their emotions (through rough housing and getting out their energy with dad). Healthy father-child relationships also help the kids perform better in schoolwork and be more confident.
Divine Roles of Men
5, The world may say men are not needed, but God has said;
By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.2
I testify of the divine roles of men! Nothing can replace them. I know this from personal experience!
My parents divorced when I was 3 and for the next 16 years I lived with my mom and two siblings. I'll spare you the stories, but it was an extremely hard childhood. I would never wish divorce upon anyone. There's no way to get around the trials it brings.
Gratefully to God, I've got a great relationship with my dad (at least I think so, haha, ask him ;), and I love him a lot! It took me some years growing up to work through forgiving of all the challenges of divorce, but God has helped me. Whenever I need a good laugh my dad is there for me. If I need to know more about the political world, I could talk to him for hours! He's so smart! And I'm pretty sure my singing and dancing abilities come from him because he's way talented. I'm thankful for my dad!
I've been blessed with a step-dad as of 7 years ago. Combining families is never easy and comes with it's challenges, but I'm grateful for my bonus family members and a step-dad who has inspired me to be a HARDER WORKER (in all caps because he is such a great example of this to me), to be more balanced with logic and spirituality (sometimes I'm all emotion, but he's awesome at bringing fantastic points of spirituality and being smart about my choices too), and I'll always be thankful for him caring for my mom.
ANYWAY
I'm not going to sugar coat anything because the divorce brought a ton of challenges and I 100% still see trials in my life because I didn't have a dad in the home growing up. I'm really grateful I had AWESOME mom, the Savior and Heavenly Father, men school teachers (especially at institute and college), church leaders, neighbors, and extended family to help me fill some of the needs I didn't get filled as a kid, but having a father in the home is game-changing.
May we see the divine roles of men and women and stick up for them in an ever changing world. God has declared what He wishes for families, may we align our lives to become those men and women He wants us to be.
Well wishes,
Ashley Marie
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