The Importance of the Father/Child Bond
By Ron Huxley, LMFT
ParentingToolbox.com

To this day, spending time with my kids continues to be one of my favorite activities. To not spend time with my children is unfathomable.

One of the most magical moments of my life was being at the birth of my
child. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I remember watching him
squirm and cry as he met the world. I remember how he paused to listen to my voice as I whispered my love for him and commitment to him. To this day, spending time with my kids continues to be one of my favorite activities. To not spend time with my children is unfathomable.

For many fathers, this isn't the case. They sit in hospital waiting rooms,
clapping each other on the back and congratulating one another on a job well
done, while their child enters the world without their father next to them.
The day after the delivery and every day after are filled with missed
opportunities to bond with their child and influence the directions they
will take in life. They rationalize that they are sacrificing for their
family by working long hours and justify their emotional distance as
modeling how to survive in the "cold, cruel world." Food on the table and a
roof over head is nice but nothing makes up for loving, nurturing
relationships with one's father.

How do fathers build this bond? What barriers stand in the way? And, what
are some practical tools to help fathers strengthen their children
intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and physically? To help me answer
these questions, I asked for advice from dad's who have a close bond with
their children. How do I know they have a close bond? I asked their wives!

How do you bond with your child?

In response to this question, all of the fathers answered alike. They stated
that the best way to bond was simply to spend time with a child. What you do is not as important as doing something.

They divided activities up into four main areas: Physical, Intellectual,
Social, and Spiritual. A balance of these four areas would result in a child
having a happier, healthier life. Physical activities are the most familiar
to fathers and include working around the house together, sharing a hobby,
coaching an athletic team, exercising together, and going places together.
Intellectual activities focus on being involved in a child's academics,
participating in school related activities, encouraging hard work, and
modeling yourself as a their primary teacher of life. Social activities
centered on talking with children, sharing feelings and thoughts,
demonstrating appropriate affection and manners, and getting to know your
child's friends. Spiritual activities are used the least by dad's but have
the most power to influence a child. These activities incorporate reading
spiritual stories together, going to church or the synagogue, praying with
children, establishing rules and order, being consistent and available, and
exploring the mysteries of nature.

What is difference between the father/child bond and the mother/child bond?

It was quickly apparent from the surveys that dad's have a different
approach or style to bonding than mom's. Dad's have a more rough and tumble approach to physical interaction or may spend time in more physical
activities such as play or working on a project together. Competition was
also seen more in father/child bonding and was considered healthy if used in
small doses and with sensitivity to a child's temperament and abilities.
Sportsmanship, but not necessary sports activities, was regarded as an
essential ingredient in the development of a child's characters. While the
approach may differ, the need for bonding with mom and dad is equally
significant. One dad joked that other than a couple of biological
differences (e.g., giving birth or breastfeeding) he couldn't see one as
more important than the other.

What barriers prevent fathers from achieving a bond with their child?

All of the fathers agreed that work and the mismanagement of time were the
biggest robbers of relationships with children. No one discounted a father's
responsibility to provide for his family, but all of them maintained that a
healthy balance is needed between work and family. They felt that society
makes it easy to use one's career as an escape. Social influences tend to
value the bond a child has with mom to be more important than with dad. But
none of the dad's questioned felt this barrier to be insurmountable.

Eliminating barriers in society begins in the home. Dads must demonstrate
that being involved in the home is important to them before society will
start treating dads as important to the home. Dads need to take the
initiative to change a diaper, clean up after dinner, give the kids their
bath, and do the laundry. The collective effect of these "small" acts will
ripple out into society to create "bigger" change.

Can a father bond with a child if they did not have a father growing up?

The entire group affirmed that not having a father would make it more
difficult but not impossible to bond with a child. According to one dad,
bonding is more of an innate need or spiritual drive, than simply a learned
behavior. Therefore, fatherless fathers are not doomed to repeat their own
childhood experiences. Another dad suggested "getting excited" by the little
things that make a child excited or happy. Getting down on the child's
level, regressing to those early moments in life when you were a child, and
sharing simple pleasures with your child will foster the bonding missed the
first time around.

In summary, it is clear that the bond between a father and a child is an
important one. Barriers, such as social values and absent fathers make
bonding with children difficult but not impossible. Children need the unique
style of bonding that fathers can provide and fathers can build that bond by
spending time engaging in physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual
activities.

Special thanks to the following web sites who volunteered their husbands or who contributed information for this article:

http://www.everythingforparents.com
http://www.womanlinks.com
http://four-fold.homepage.com/
http://www.fathersworld.com/

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