Me and my son Devrin just bonding.
Importance of Fathers on Childhood Development
Introduction
This public service announcement is targeted to young, Black males at City Tech, between the ages of 17-32, who are single fathers. According to the City Tech Fast Fact figures, 31.5% of the college’s population consists of Black males. The median age for all males enrolled is 21. These men could be young fathers, like me. I know of the struggles I contend with on a daily basis, which include working full time and attending school full time, while still trying to be an active presence in my eight-year old son’s life. By no means am I saying that it is easy; in fact, I am always exhausted, but I understand that in order for my son and I to survive and thrive, I have to be committed to securing a future for us now. There are so many statistics that point to the lack of Black fathers in households and how this has a negative effect on their children’s lives. I can think of no one who wants to raise children who are not well adjusted. If anything, this makes it more difficult for children to lead successful and productive lives. This is why my public service announcement is targeted to young, Black fathers at City Tech.
These are the goals I would like to accomplish through my public service announcement:
- To inform young, single fathers that their presence is extremely important in the lives of their children
- To provide young fathers with personal stories from my life to highlight the struggles that young Black fathers face
- To prevent fathers from giving up on their children due to their daily struggles
- To provide young fathers with advice on how to strengthen their bond with their children to minimize any psychosocial, cognitive harm on the child. Financial costs associated with raising children will also be highlighted.
Check My Public Service Announcement: http://youtu.be/965GmRWwYH0
Psychosocial Development
Hope
Erik Erikson, a Psychologist who lived during 1902-1994, stated that there are eight stages that a developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood. This was called “Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development.” The first stages is “Trust versus Mistrust.” In this stage Erikson states that between the age of Zero to two, the child will develop the ability to trust or mistrust. This truly depends on how parents nurture the child with love and letting the child feel safe and protected. However, if for any reason this stage is not accomplish by the parents due to neglect, the child will build the sense of mistrust. At this stage I know from my experience My son Devrin developed a mis-trust towards me because I was not a consistent presence in his life after his mother and I broke-up. When I was allowed to see him, he would cry and embrace his mother tightly. This made me feel like I was a stranger to my own son. To change this I started to visit more often and played with him and talked to him. Since then we built a bond that is still strong until Today.
Will
The next is “Autonomy versus Shame” this stage starts from two-years old and ends at four-years old. At this stage, the child is developing motor skills and exploring their surroundings. It is important for the father to be around during this stage because the child’s surroundings need to be secure and danger-free. Fathers need to help the mother build self-sufficient behavior in the child so that the child will develop a sense of autonomy. I remember at this stage, since I wasn’t around my son much he adapted to his surroundings and picked up a bad habit of cursing. This is when my presence was really needed I couldn’t have my son speaking like a sailor. How I took care of this problem; I told him why it is important that he speaks appropriate and I reinforced it by warning him that I will be disappointed of him, if he continue to use profanity. This is when if he knew I heard him curse, he would become shameful and start to cry.
Purpose
The “Initiative versus Guilt” stage occurs around the ages of four and five, just around the time children start preschool. The stage stems from the “Autonomy versus Shame” stage because the child is learning how to master the world of their surroundings. During this stage they take the initiative to learn basic skills like how to put on their clothes and tie their shoes. It is important for the father to be around during this stage because the child may start to feel guilty when his or her efforts do not produce desired results. The father can help the mother show the child it is okay to fail and not to give up on a task. This is where Industry versus Inferiority stage comes into play.
Interesting Video: Motivational Speech from Pursuit of Happiness – YouTube
Competence
According to Erikson, the “Industry versus Inferiority” stage, which are the elementary school years, these years are critical for the development of self confidence. At this stage the child tries to seize opportunities to achieve recognition from teachers, parents and peers by playing sports and doing well academically. If for any reason the child does not succeed at pleasing his or her teacher, parents and peers, the child will develop feelings of inferiority about their capabilities. However, the parent needs to give the child room to learn about themselves so they can recognize their special talents. Therefore, the father presence is important at this point as well because the child just might need support financially to perform on a high level in Academic and Athletic environments.
Even if a child does not complete a stage successfully, he or her will move on to the next stage but will lack on the importance of the stage that was left incomplete. The child will try to compensate for what they lack. In majority of these cases the child will fail, especially if the child father is not around or neglecting the child.
Cognitive Development
According to Vygotsky (1978), it is important that a child learns from a skillful tutor through a social interaction. This tutor should be a good role-model for the child, so that the positive characteristic can rub off on the child. Shaffer (1996) provides an example of Vygotsky’s cognitive development perspective at work. He presents a story about a young girl who works on a jigsaw puzzle for the first time. He proceeds to convey the following:
“Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the comer/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers encouragement when she does so. As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently.”(McLeod, 2013)
The above example reflects Vygotsky’s Cognitive development theory because it shows that a child’s social interaction with a role model helps with the child’s cognitive development.
For one to understand Vygotsky’s theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of his work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)-This is self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process; or concept. In some situations the (MKO) is not necessarily a teacher or an older adult it can even be a more advance childAlthough, in some situations the (MKO) is not necessarily a teacher or an older adult.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)-is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve on his or her own and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.
The block quote above is a good example of Zone of Proximal Development because without the father’s help, the daughter would not have been able to solve the puzzle. Some children will need someone to demonstrate basic strategies and offer encouragement so that they can do anything and succeed at it.
Financial
In a CNN Money article “Average cost to raise a kid: $241,080” by Melaine Hicken, Hicken states that cost of raising a child today is up to almost a quarter million and that does not even include college funding. This figure is only the cost of parents taking care of an infant up to eighteen years of age. This is due to inflation on groceries, housing, transportation, clothing, healthcare, education and childcare, as well as miscellaneous expenses such as toys and computers. The average cost of raising a child can be more, depending on the parents’ income. This is another reason why the father’s role is important. This financial burden is too much for a mother to bear, especially if the mother is not Financially stable.
