Fathers

Are Fathers as Essential as Mothers?

That would be an emphatic 
                       YES.

One of my favorite websites, greatergood.berkeley.edu, published an interesting article called “The Astonishing Science of Father Involvement” by Jeremy Adam Smith that presents physiological changes that happen to make fathers so.... well.... fatherly. 

One of the amazing phenomenons they address is a male hormone shift that happens after a child is born. As long as the husband is spending time with his wife and child, his testosterone levels drop and he gains proclaim and cortisol, the hormones responsible for helping a mother to be sensitive to her child’s needs. In fact, Smith claims, “In many, many ways, male and female bodies converge as the two become parents” and that this process of change increases with each child. 

Another change happens in the brain, where researchers have hypothesized, partially based on their research with marmoset monkeys (“the stay-at-home dads of the animal kingdom”), that fathers develop “better neural connections in the pre-frontal cortex” and hippocampus when they're involved with their children. This makes the fathers more able to respond to and be emotionally connected with their children. Both of these areas are typically larger in females. The importance of the research is constantly tied back to the fact that these things can form lasting bonds if cultivated. 

Fathers are often seen as the more distant caregiver, especially since “paternal leave” from work is almost non-existent in Western society. Smith argues that fathers are beginning to want this time with their children as much as they need it. “They are more plugged in to the enrichment of their children and more comfortable taking time off to be fathers.” Mothers are not solely responsible for the nurturing of their children. Even physiology seems to suggest that fathers have those tendencies as well after they have children, and this fatherly nurturing is essential to a child's development. In fact, Christine Carter, Ph. D, sociologist, and happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, points out five researched benefits that come from having a father. Kids will:

1)   Be smarter and more successful in school and work 

2)   Be happier 

3)   Have more friends and better relationships 

4)   Have happier, healthier mothers 

5)   Be less likely to get into trouble or engage in risky behaviorGrowing up 

Bill Cosby: "Nothing I have ever done has given me more joys or rewards than being a father to my children."

Men have the noble duty to be fathers. It is the most important and fulfilling opportunity they will ever have. Watch this and embrace the fact that you will tear up: Earthly Father, Heavenly Father.

Fathers: We want them. We need them. We love them.