Posts Tagged ‘fatherhood’
How can programs promote positive, goal-oriented relationships with fathers?
“Father engagement is not a stand-alone program initiative, but a vital and integrated aspect of parent, family, and community work.” – Birth to 5 Father Engagement Guide Like most things in life that are worth the effort, engaging fathers takes work. Sometimes, it takes a lot of work. However, family engagement is one of the…
Read More10 Facts about Father Engagement
The following article has been reposted with permission from The Fatherhood Project, a non-profit fatherhood program in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, MA. Their mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by empowering fathers to be active, informed and emotionally engaged with their children and families. Research…
Read MoreDeveloping Marketing Materials Specifically for Father Engagement
The learning and growth of a child can be attributed to the involvement and engagement of both the mother and the father. When a child is able to experience both parent’s perspectives, they benefit from the wonderful balance that takes place. Engaging males can be a tremendous task, but we need it for our children.…
Read MoreHow Involved Fathers are Forging New Ground
I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail. Muriel StrodeThe Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers, 1903 In the past, women were much more likely to be the primary caregivers who nurtured a child’s early development. That means that when the fathers…
Read MoreSharing Ongoing Child Assessment Data Encourages Better Family Engagement
Have you ever heard the saying, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?” I can’t think of a better example than when parents and educators are on the same page when it comes to preparing for a child’s future. While each side’s contribution is essential on its own, when communication is flowing…
Read MoreYing to the Yang: How Fatherhood Compliments Motherhood for a Happy, Healthy Childhood
As a Head Start consultant, I often find myself as the only man in a room full of women. It’s true, Head Start, and early childhood education in general, is dominated by women – staff, volunteers, and of course, mothers. It’s in rooms just like these that I’m often talking about the value of father…
Read MoreUsing Community Partnerships to Enhance Father Engagement
If you’re not currently reading the Fatherhood Connection e-newsletter and webinar series from ECLKC, we highly recommend that you make a commitment to read it and share it with other staff. The Office of Head Start has made it clear over and over that engaging families in the education of children – whether mothers, fathers,…
Read MoreWhat is your plan to engage fathers in Head Start?
We recently received a great newsletter from the National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement from their “Fatherhood Connection” initiative, in which they provided a year in review of the many strategies they talked about in 2018 to engage fathers in Head Start programs. The way we see it, it’s never a bad time…
Read MoreUsing Homework Assignments to Drive Parent Involvement
Uri Bronfenbrenner, often referred to as the Father of Head Start, wrote early on in the program’s founding that one of the goals of the program was to have parents become “captivated by their own children, supportive of their education & irrationally committed to their children.” Remember, our goal isn’t just to get parents involved…
Read MoreFocusing on Fatherhood in the New School Year
In Head Start, engaging fathers (and men in general) can be challenging, as many agencies can attest. However, that doesn’t mean that our efforts aren’t important. The appropriate financial support and positive role model of a present father can sometimes make a big difference in the outcome for children. And since Head Start’s mission is…
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