Fatherhood Programs
I live in a farming community in Witzenberg Valley, South Africa. My community offers much support to fathers to help them effectively manage their families. It has initiated several fatherhood programs to cater to the various needs of fathers. These programs are effective as they initiate discussions and activities that empower fathers with essential life skills. The acquired skills promote positive behaviors among fathers that help to enhance relationships.
Programs on Relationships
Fatherhood programs dealing with relationships make use of various instruments that help fathers attain their parental goals. They provide support groups that organize various sessions which deal with issues such as communication, fatherhood, and conflict resolution. These sessions help fathers to strengthen existing relationships through acquired skills in co-parenting. The program helps fathers know how to deal with their children and partners by teaching them how to view their families positively. Moreover, it also helps them see the need to communicate effectively with their family members and coordinate their parenting activities for the benefit of their children. Co-parenting sessions are also important because they are also required in judicial cases involving marital conflicts. They help conflicting parties to resolve their disputes amicably by embracing their positive principles (National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, 2022). The most common sessions found in this program include those for engaged, married, or cohabiting couples. They also provide information for complex families such as stepfamilies, blended families, and those with an incarcerated parent. Expectant fathers also have their own special sessions, which help to prepare them for the new life. These sessions are important because they help participants to acquire various parenting skills.
Social Activities Programs
Social activities are also incorporated into fatherhood programs to help them interact with their children and equip them with practical parenting skills. These programs receive constructive feedback from peers and instructors concerning their parenting capabilities. The program incorporates a wide range of activities that help enhance interactions among family members. Mothers are usually invited to socialize with their families but only for specific sessions. Fatherhood sessions help fathers to motivate themselves to gather the courage to deal with parental challenges in an appropriate manner. Fatherhood practitioners use different sessions to help fathers from diverse family backgrounds interact by sharing information and experiences. These programs help children and fathers learn and strengthen their relationships through play.
Various types of sessions are incorporated into this program to cater to the different needs of fathers. The program consists of sessions that help fathers meet their babies’ basic needs, especially those with young children. It provides them with the necessary skills to engage in fatherhood without fear and violence. Some activities help fathers identify and define the difference between positive and negative parenting practices. It helps them with aspects of nurturance, which is a strenuous exercise for many fathers.
Moreover, such programs also include role-playing in their activities to help fathers acquire appropriate skills to interact with their children. They are provided with guidelines on how best to discipline their children without creating rifts and conflicts within the family unit (Totey, 2021). Finally, they have a chance to analyze their lives and pick the positive and negative behaviors they developed as they grew up. Such reflections allow them to deeply think about their experiences as children, adolescents, and adults.
Co-Parenting Programs
The work of Fatherhood program practitioners is to collaborate with fathers from different families to improve their co-parenting skills. These skills include giving priority to their children and their needs, helping them open communication lines, and allowing them to interact with both parents equally. Effective co-parenting includes virtues that are important in maintaining family integration and creating stability among partners (Family Guidance Center, 2022). These characteristics are essential in maintaining peace and harmony within the family and reducing frequent conflicts among family members.
However, complex family forms make it challenging for effective parenting to take place. The main objective of the program is to keep pace with changes in the family and provide solutions for fathers faced with challenges. Modern society is experiencing changes in the family unit that has led to the emergence of novel conflicts among new spouses, former spouses, and polygamous and extended families. Fatherhood Practitioners collaborate with fathers to create co-parenting groups that help solve many fatherhood problems. The co-parenting groups help communicate and support one another for the children’s sake.
Through the establishment of fatherhood programs, my community has enhanced and protected the sanctity of the family as the basic unit that forms society. Many fathers have acquired good relational skills that have helped them deal with their partners effectively and bring up their children correctly. These programs have helped the whole community to bring up a generation of well-behaved and mature individuals who are helpful in society. On the other hand, fatherhood programs have reduced marital disputes, separations, divorce, and the need for child protective services in my community. Marital conflict is something that is of great concern to fatherhood programs, making them family champions. These programs do not only deal with fathers but also encourage the interaction of family members through special sessions. Their importance in society cannot be understated since they help the community’s overall development and improve its members’ welfare.
References
Family Guidance Center. (2022). Co-parenting programs. Web.
National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse. (2022). What fatherhood can do. Web.
Totey, J. (2021). 29 things every dad & son must do together at least once. Tinybeans. Web.