Expectations of Fathers’ Roles Expands from Emphasis on Provider to Equal Partners, Nurturers

Washington, DC, June 14, 2016 – This Sunday, June 19^th, as we celebrate fathers across the nation, new research finds that contemporary norms of fatherhood emphasize men’s involvement with their children in addition to the traditional role of financial provider. Further, the number of hours that fathers work is not strongly related to fathers’ involvement with their children. Rather, “new fathers” appear to be cutting back on, or incorporating their children into, their leisure time.¹

“Over the past two decades, fathers have become more involved in all aspects of their children’s lives,” says Kenneth Braswell, National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) Director. “Fathers continue to feel strongly about providing for their children while taking a more active role in other key activities such as meal preparation, bathing, and bedtime routines.”

Further, the Pew Research Center notes that six-in-ten Americans (58 percent) say it is “extremely important” for a father to provide values and morals to his children and roughly half say it is extremely important for a dad to provide emotional support (52 percent).²

It’s important to note that these attitudes extend to all fathers regardless of marital status, age, or occupation. Researchers found that fathers seek to reduce their leisure time or incorporate their children into leisure time activities to ensure their involvement is not diminished.

NRFC supports fathers and family service organizations throughout the year by providing key resources and webinars, and helping fathers connect to community resources. The NRFC website, fatherhood.gov, makes the latest parenting information available to fathers across the country and the NRFC toll-free hotline provides guidance one-on-one.

New PSAs Encourage Dads to Make a Moment

Working closely with The Ad Council, NRFC is launching a new campaign encouraging dads to “take a moment to make a moment” with their kids. The new TV, radio, print, and digital public service advertising (PSA), created by Campbell Ewald, illustrates how simple it can be to make an impact on a child at any moment. The TV spots feature user-generated content from real fathers making moments with their kids in unexpected ways. All PSAs direct audiences to share their own moments via the hashtag #MakeAMoment and to visit www.fatherhood.gov or call 1-877-4DAD411 for parenting tips, fatherhood programs, and other resources. WWE Superstars Roman Reigns, Titus O’Neil, and Alberto Del Rio are once again joining the campaign to help show how they “take time to be a dad.” The PSAs are an extension of the Ad Council’s award-winning Fatherhood Involvement campaign, which launched in 2008. The ads will air and run in time and space entirely donated by the media.

¹ “Navigating New Norms of Involved Fatherhood: Employment, Fathering Attitudes, and Father Involvement,” Brittany S. McGill, Journal of Family Issues, 2014, Vol. 35(8) 1089-1106.

² “The New American Father,” Pew Research Center, June 14, 2013, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/06/14/the-new-american-father/