I am so blessed to have lived in a two-parent home all my life. I know what it is like to be a single parent, but that was for only three years. Recently I have been praying for single parents because I have been seeing the results on the children of having only one parent in the home. I do not have space enough to talk about the ways of single parent homes, so please do not think I am trying to bash men! I have seen some women who I can not imagine anyone living with, as well as some men so selfish they can not function in a family setting. I would be honored to talk about these types of situations, but not in this setting.
Celebrating Fathers’ Day in the United States will be about 64 million men who identify themselves as fathers. Only 26.5 million of those dads are a part of a home where they have a spouse and children under the age of 18 living there. Twenty-two percent of fathers are raising 3 plus children under the age of 14, with all of them being biological relatives. Only 18% of single-parent homes are headed by a single father, the rest by single mothers.
Fathers are very important, but are not always present, even when living in the home with their children. We dads are too busy with our jobs, hobbies, or even many other things that I will not try to identify! But notice that 85% of youth in prison gangs grew up in a fatherless home! Children without a father hare four times more likely to be living in poverty than children with a father. Children from fatherless homes are twice as likely to drop out of school before graduating. Teen girls living in a fatherless home are almost 4 times more likely to become mothers before their 20th birthday.
In African-American homes, 57% are fatherless homes. Hispanic homes have 31% fatherless rate. Caucasian homes have a 20% fatherless rate. This is not a racist statement, only statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. A recent survey reported that 72% of Americans believe that a fatherless home is the most significant family problem that is facing our nation.
Children who live in a single-parent or step-family home report less school work monitoring, less social supervision, and lower educational expectations than children from two-parent homes. About 40% of all children born in America are born to unmarried mothers. Over 60% of these children are born to mothers who are under the age of 30.
Children who live in a fatherless home are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to children who live with their fathers. 92% of parents who are in U.S. prisons are fathers. 43% of dads do not see their role as something of importance. 54% of dads say that parenting is not enjoyable. The modern dad spends only 8 hours weekly with child care, which is 6 hours less than the modern mom.
70% believe that it is equally important for a newborn to spend time bonding with their father and their mother, but 53% believe mothers do a better job of parenting than fathers.
Most of this information came from a ministry called “Life Is Beautiful”. My motive for quoting such statistics is not to bash fathers nor fatherhood, but to point out what I see as a major problem that is growing in America.
And, I do not see these statistics getting much better in the near future. It is my prayer that as we read this information it will cause us to double down on what we truly believe is important in life. Our children had no say in coming into this world, but we should accept our responsibility to see that their world is as good as we can possibly make it!
God’s Word is very plain! Husbands love your wife – Wives love your husband. That is far too simplistic but if we never work on the issues, they will never improve! My dad told me that, “A man can not properly love his children until he totally loves their mother, his wife!”
Fatherhood is never easy but we dads must work at it harder than any other task we will ever have! I do not have the answers, but I believe none of us will until we understand better the problem. I trust now we better understand what we are doing to our children if we are not being the kind of dads we can be. If you have questions about being a better father, please do not hesitate from asking someone. Find a good dad and allow him to mentor you!
