Mothers Determine How Well Father Takes Care of Babyby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 16 Aug 2008 01:56 PM
The study took a look at 97 families who had infants. After accessing numerous factors, such as what the parents believed about gender and paternal roles, the study found an interesting result. How much the mother encouraged the father to care for the infant was the single most important factor that determined the degree to which the father was involved. In other words, the more a mother encouraged a father to care for his baby, the more involved the father was in the care. And the reverse was true. The more critical the mother was about how a father cared for his baby, the less likely he was to be involved. Mothers, in essence, act as the gatekeepers for their baby's care. They can directly foster or curtail how active a father is in the care of his baby. While this might seem obvious, it is the first direct evidence that mother's play such a critical role in a father's involvement. So, if you are a new mom, know that your behavior can determine how much "help" you get from your spouse by how much you encourage that help. Fathers seem to need that encouragement. One way to do this is to not be critical of how your spouse or partner cares for your infant. Even if you think the baby should be burped three times instead of once, for example, you should let that go and resolve to let the father determine what works for him. If you want to read more about the study, visit The American Psychological Association. How did you or will you encourage your baby's father to become involved? Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans. Related Posts: Rocking and Bouncing Can Affect Your Baby's Music Preference Baby Prefers Mommy, What's a Dad to Do? Printable Father's Day Cards and Gifts Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantbaby tags User Comments  mcmama (51978) 16 Aug 2008 04:14 PMDepends on what "involved" means. Overheard a comment today on the beach from a frazzled mom of a boy who looked to be about 7 who was cavorting in rough surf as they were packing to leave. Dad was no where in sight, mom and friend were packing and carrying stuff, kids were running on ahead, and mom said "ask a grown man to watch a child in THAT SURF and he's more interested in looking for seashells...." I had seen the boy in the surf, and while he was ok, I did wonder where the grown up with him was. No one seened connected - because mom was not there, thinking that dad was watching. Maybe we "accept" if things are not done just so, but sometimes it is just not safe to let go if a guy really cannot handle the responsibility. So we need to be giving him responsibility while they are young, so he gets a clue!!! jonesx6 (1606) 17 Aug 2008 05:05 PMMy hubby has always been very involved in every aspect of our children. As I sit here and type this he is giving our 3 year a bath. :o) Interesting article. Laura gborosoccer7 (80) 10 Mar 2009 04:41 PMI am a psychology student and we learned that fathers enhance the childs social and emotional development. It is also said that fathers prevoke more laughter than mothers in their children. We also learned that fathers are adept at helping infants modulate their childs anger. What is interesting is this example of teenagers are less likely to lash out at friends and authorities if, as infants, they experienced a warm responsive relationship with their fathers. When it comes to attachment they are either equally attached to both parents or more attached to their mother or more attached to their father. We learned that close relationships with fathers helps with a childs expressions of emotions, and fathers also enourage their children to explore. As a student that doesnt have children I want to know if you parents think that this information is accurate.  Mary Ann Romans (26886) 11 Mar 2009 04:32 AMI would definitely say that caring, involved fathers or father figures are an instrumental part of the well-being of a child. Community Tags baby advice, dads, involved father, infant, moms Discuss this article
|
Baby categories |
When it comes to how 
