Fatherhood Education
Too often, programs assume that all women need parenting education and men do not. This could not be further from the truth. All parents – expectant and actual – can benefit from parenting education.
For fathers who are involved in both the child welfare and drug treatment systems, there is lots of ground to cover. While it is impossible for any one curriculum to meet a full range of needs, there are lots of good options out there.
Some of the topics that you might want to incorporate into a fatherhood education program include:
- Discipline v. punishment
- Grief and loss
- Gender expectations and roles
- Child support
- Parenting from a distance
- Communication with parenting co-partners
- Being a good co-parent
- Roles and responsibilities
- Child advocacy
- Child care – infancy – adolescence
- Personal history with father role models
- Rights and responsibilities of non-custodial fathers
- Problem solving
- Having fun with children
- Anger management
- Vocational planning and support
- Family planning and sexuality
- Exceptional children and their needs
- Expressing love and affection
- Relationship skills
- What it takes to be a Dad
- Promoting self-esteem
- The value of structure, rules, and boundaries
- Child safety
There are many curriculum that address these issues – some are “evidence-based,” others are not. Here is a partial list of curriculum available for purchase (you might find other programs available through local community-based organizations, such as STRIVE’s Dads Embracing Fatherhood):
- The Parenting Journey
- The Responsible Fatherhood Program
- Nurturing Fathers Program
- Quenching the Father Thirst
- Partners for Fragile Families: Responsible Fatherhood Developmen
- Positive Parenting for Incarcerated Fathers
- Inside Out Dad
- From the Inside Out
- Nurturing Parenting Program for Substance Abusers
