Theodore Ransaw

1. Fathers gain close to the same amount of weight as their wives do in her first and third trimesters of pregnancy.

2. A father holding her daughter when she is born increased her chance of going to college

3. Boys with an engaged father have fewer behavior problems and do better in school

4. An involved father help reduce problems with depression and self-esteem for both girls an boys

5. Stepfathering has become an increasing trend around the globe

6. Men are just as likely to help with homework, whether they are a biological father or step father

7. Most fathers would take maternity leave if given a choice

8. Most depictions of fathers in popular media depict the father as unflattering

9. Childhood happiness is linked to an involved father independently of the mother

10. Fatherhood has changes more in the last 50 years that it has in the last 300

On July 9, 2008, President Obama spoke about the need to have a “national conversation on responsible fatherhood and healthy families” (Obama, 2009). The Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009 bill announced June 19, 2009, would provide grants to promote economic opportunity for low-income parents, reverses federal funding cut from child support programs, repeals a $25 child support fee charged to parents, requires all collected child support to be paid to families, addresses unpaid child support debt, expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and creates career pathways that require a good education.  However, the economy affects all fathers who earn income in some way as well as the families they try to support.  The lower the employability of the provider, the lower the income of the family and the less likely the family will live in a neighborhood with a good school.  “We need [men] to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child—it’s the courage to raise one” (Obama, 2009).

Most would agree the impact a father has on his children cannot be overstated. Children without fathers in their lives are five  times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. That’s why being a father, or even a stepfather is so important.

Investing in becoming a stepfather allows a male to create and maintain a relationship with the children of the mother.  In societies where there are more men available than women, those men may have little choice but to marry a woman with children, or to not marry at all (Anderson, 2000).  Men who marry women with children may also not be “prime” candidates for marriage.  Stepfathers who marry women with children tend to have less education, earn lower incomes, and are more likely to have been previously married, all issues related to a lower standing in the marriage market (Anderson, 2000). Did you know man willing to be a stepparent increases his likelihood of getting married.