The Science of Fatherhood?

“For the last 25 years, researchers have been studying the transition men make as they accept becoming a father and their unique development as fathers.”

Not exactly what I was expecting to find when I put “becoming a new dad” into Google. It was astounding how many dry, stoic, fact-driven web pages about becoming a father I was able to find in just a few minutes. It seemed like all I could get was information on studies and research groups that had made it their duty to investigate this scientific mystery called “fatherhood”.

While I’m sure further searching would have warranted results from the other end of the spectrum, I was still a bit put off by this particular approach that had apparently become popular with more than just a couple groups of people. Quite frankly, when I realized what I was reading I slowly sighed and shook my head, thinking to myself, ‘Is this really what it’s come to?’

What happened to playing catch, or going fishing, or “driving lessons”? How did father-son talks come to be in such short supply that we have to resort to studies to get the info we need. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no problem with doing these kinds of studies; I’m sure there are quite a few psychologists and sociologists who are quite passionate about that kind of research.

The American family unit is under attack. I’m not trying to get all political here, but it’s true that our society is continually making it harder and harder for any given family to stay together. From pervasive entertainment, to the ephasis placed on individuality, to the “sitcom family” paradigm, it’s not hard to imagine that what our country considers a family has been highly misconstrued.

So I guess, to sum all of this up, I’m just becoming more and more aware of how important my job is. And it makes me proud to think that I can teach my children how to be better than all of this, that they are God’s childeren and not our society’s. Whoever said what you don’t know can’t hurt you was dead wrong.