The Importance of the Active Father

This upcoming weekend, 3 Dimensional Life will host its FIRST ever Father/Son Retreat, entitled "Well Done".

Consider the following quotes from this article:

Dr Herbert Gayle, an anthropologist of social violence, took a similar view.


"A father has four roles -- provider, protector, role model and emotional supplement to the family. Think about a father who has infant children and the state forcefully removes this parent, you understand the tremendous impact of him not performing his roles," he said. "When you remove a father who is the minister of security for his family, you create physical insecurity in his child and one of the results of that is violence."


Added Gayle: "The father is crucial. When you pull a man from a family, if the mother has a headache she doesn't have anyone to lean on. When the father is absent and abused and treated as though he is marginal, then the boy begins to see himself as marginal. Girls need to see their fathers act as a caring and loving person in order to trust the opposite sex."

When Dr. Gayle began to discuss the importance of a father, he highlighted four different roles: provider, protector, role model and emotional supplement to the family. That is a mighty tall order and really pushes how vital a father is to the family.
 
Let's connect those roles to examples:
 
Provider - "He makes the case that one aspect of a father providing for his sons involves training them to provide for their own family some day. In this day and age, the role of career training has shifted from fathers to schools (trade schools, colleges, etc.). He suggests that fathers begin taking the responsibility for instilling these skills in their sons." source.
 
Protector - Dr. Gayle notes, "When you remove a father who is the minister of security for his family, you create physical insecurity in his child and one of the results of that is violence."
 
Role Model - Dr. Gayle says, "When the father [sees himself' as] marginal, then the boy begins to see himself as marginal. Girls need to see their fathers act as a caring and loving person in order to trust the opposite sex."
 
Emotional Supplement for the Family: Dr. Gayle makes this comment: " [When a father is gone, the mother] doesn't have anyone to lean on....boy begins to see himself as marginal....girls need to see their fathers act as a caring and loving person in order to trust."


For someone to say that a father is not a vital aspect to the family, that is a sadly mistaken assumption. That is why this weekend is so important for our students and their fathers. While our students move toward adopting a lifestyle that is destructive-behavior-free, the fathers have the opportunity to reconnect and build on the relationships with their sons.