Encouraging Fathers to Get Off the Side-Lines and into the Game

By Sheila Anderson, Ty Aller, Kathy Piercy, & Lori Roggman

This article is excerpted from an article published byTaylor & Francis Group in Early Child Development and Care (2014). ‘Helping us find our own selves’: Exploring father role construction and early childhood program engagement. DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2014.924112

Many fathers are becoming increasingly interested in the education and care of their young children. Indeed, early childhood teachers report observing fathers who watch with interest from the “sidelines”, (e.g. standing outside the doorways of classrooms), but appear unsure of their role in children’s early education (Anderson & Roggman, 2012; Honig, 2010). In this study, we partnered with a local Utah early childhood program to conduct an exploratory focus group with fathers. The purpose of the study was to identify family engagement practices that encouraged fathers to get off the sidelines and into the game of engaging in early childhood programs and with their young children. During the focus group we asked fathers four open-ended questions:

• “Tell us about your experience in this early childhood program.”
• “What did you like about these experiences?”
• “What motivated you to participate in the program?”
• “How has participating in this program has change your ideas about fathering?”

Fathers were defined as “a significant male role model in a child’s life, including father or father figures that are biological, step, foster, grandfather, boyfriend, uncle, cousin, other male relative or close friend. Fathers may have resided with the child or in another household.” Seven fathers attended the focus group. All fathers who participated in the focus group were over 18 years old. Two fathers were Latino ethnicity and one was a non-resident father. The focus group was recorded and later transcribed for analysis.

Qualitative pattern and descriptive coding were used to develop themes to examine the central research question: “How can an early childhood programs promote positive father engagement in the program and with their young children?”  Three themes emerged:1) value fathers, 2) promote child learning and enjoyment, and 3) support positive father-child relationships.

1. Value fathers: Fathers explained that when teachers were welcoming, learned their names, showed interested in them, were flexible, and responded to their needs they felt valued. Fathers also appreciated when teachers provided a variety of ways for them to engage in the program, reducing conflicts with work and family responsibilities. Examples included supporting children’s learning at home (e.g. reading program), weeknight parenting classes, and father-child community field trips on Saturday.  One father explained that having his child’s teacher treat him as important changed his own beliefs about his role as a father  

And it showed me that dad could be a part of the child’s life, as a mom. Not just always mom, let mom do everything. No, dad should be part of their life.

2. Promote children’s learning and enjoyment. Fathers described “seeing” their children learning through play and enjoying it, and they felt that practitioners loved and enjoyed their children. Fathers described this combination of being able to ‘see’ learning and enjoyment happening together as increasing their desire to be engaged in the program and support their child’s learning at home. One father explained that, ‘The kids love it. And, you can tell the teachers love their job. They treat them just like their kids.’ Then he described how he observed teachers helping children to solve their own problems by asking questions like, ‘What do you think you should do?’ and how this example influenced him:   

So most of us adults, especially dads think, “Oh this is the answer this is how you fix it this is how you make it better” instead of sometimes letting them figure it out. So my kids will ask me, “So what about this?” and “what do you think? What do you think you should do?” and before I just said, “Oh yeah. Here is the answer. This will fix it.” So it has kind of helped with not only my kids, but my wife too.

3. Support positive father-child relationships. Fathers described teachers as providing supports that helped them develop more effective parenting skills that supported their own individual parenting goals. Fathers explained that they appreciated practitioners learning what their parenting goals were and providing multiple ways through which they could gain more effective skills (e.g. parenting classes, father-child field trips, home visits, and socialization groups). Several fathers described how opportunities to spend  one on one time with their children during father-child field trips helped them more accurately observe and respond to their children’s needs, relax, and enjoy their children more. Fathers also described learning to be more patient with their children. One father explained:   

It just helps us have a relationship with our kids. They [staff] are so willing to be there and help us in finding our own selves and letting us know that we are capable and able to accomplish everything we need to do as a parent.

The personal experiences of these fathers suggest that early childhood teachers have a prime opportunity to support parent and child development simultaneously, and highlight how every interaction a program has with each father can be an opportunity to promote positive father-child relationships. Fathers’ enjoyment, coupled with seeing their children’s competencies improve, having their role valued by the program, and having opportunities to develop new parenting skills helped father recognize their importance in children’s lives and motivated their engagement in the early childhood program. Early childhood teachers face unique challenges when encouraging fathers to engage in early childhood programs and with their young children. By valuing fathers, promoting child learning and enjoyment, and supporting positive father-child relationships, early childhood practitioners can support fathers in getting off the sidelines and into the game of engaging in early childhood programs and with their young children. 

For more information on the full article and reference please contact the first author at sanderson@weber.edu.