Who is the most important person in a child’s life? A father, many will tell and they will be right. What is modern understanding of father’s role, and how much it differs from traditional?

Recently questions connected with traditional and modern understanding of father’s role are often discussed, there are myths about «family crash», «loss of fatherly authority», «domination of mother in education of children». To understand features of present fathers, we will try to consider changes occurring to a family in culture and society.

This was developed historically

Historically formation of paternity institute is connected with private property appearance, when there is a natural necessity of its inheritance by one of sons. So, a man – a keeper of traditions has a function of women and children maintenance. As a man’s parental behaviour is inherently social, it depends on training and can easily disappear without corresponding social conditions. Besides, psychological maintenance of fatherly role in many respects depends on experience of a man’s own socialisation in a parental family, from his father’s model of paternity in a family.

Traditional understanding of father’s role

The most widespread model of paternity was traditional until recently. In this model a father – a supporter, personification of power and higher disciplining instance, an example for imitation and direct instructor in an extrafamily, public life. A fatherly role included responsibility for son’s education, first of all. In traditional society work of fathers was always visible, what was a base for fatherly authority. A father was a head of the family, a person who makes important decisions, advises, supervises, because he is the most skilful, skilled, expert among family members. The given model of paternity, in this or that form, is met in societies, where traditional kinds of economic activities are kept.

Changes occurred to a family in culture and society

Changes connected with family, were outlined since 60th years of last century, when a woman’s professional employment increased sharply. This led to change of their vital strategy and positions in a family. If earlier a woman depended on her husband socially and economically – a head and supporter of a family, now responsibility for a family material maintenance is often incurred by women. Thus all of them spend more time out of a family, and there is a question of distribution of not only house duties, but also educational functions among partners.

New image of a man

A new view for gender roles should affect paternity institute with feminization growth. In traditional model a father’s role in the first years of a child’s life was considered as mainly auxiliary. However, already in 80th in the countries of Europe and USA sociologists and psychologists designated «a new image of a man», which was in many respects opposite to traditional. Differences, first of all, consisted in relation to small children: a new model of paternity meant participation in care, ability to establish emotional contact to a child.

Occurrence of modern model of paternity is connected with democratic tendencies in a society, equality of spouses in distribution of rights and duties in a family. From American psychologists’ point of view, successful paternity is characterised by active participation in children education, interest to a child’s successes and frequent dialogue with him. Usually such fathers are less severe, understand children better, in comparison with fathers showing “purely man’s” qualities. The last happen much more exacting and strict parents, however, they are inclined to assign daily cares to wives more often.

What is a difference between mother’s and fatherly education?

Comparing to mother’s love, fatherly love is “exacting”, conditional, which a child should deserve. Fatherly love is not congenital, and is formed throughout the first years of a child’s life. To deserve fatherly love a child should correspond to certain social requirements and fatherly expectations, concerning abilities, achievements, success.

Father’s love serves as though an award for successes and good behaviour. Possibility of family continuation is embodied in a child, as according to traditional norms, a man should bring up a successor, as a bearer of a family name, a keeper of traditions and patrimonial memory. Thus, a father carries out a function of social control and is a carrier of requirements, discipline and sanctions.

A father’s role in education consists in encouragement of activity directed on development of social competence. If mother gives a child possibility to feel intimacy of human love, a father shows a child a way to a human society. A father is a source of knowledge about world, work, technics, promotes formation of socially useful purposes and ideals, vocational counselling.

Mother’s care provides possibility of acceptance, fatherly care induces to return. Both that and another are necessary for a person’s development».

Let your child developing harmoniously in dialogue with mother and father!