Surviving Father's Day Without a Father
Today is Father’s Day. I will spend much of the day remembering my father and what he meant in my life. I will think about sitting in his lap, his fatherly advice and what it meant to have his guidance as I transitioned from adolescence into adulthood. I will think about how very much I miss him.
But mostly, I will be thinking of my own child whose father died almost four years ago. I will think about how she will not even be able to call her father today and wish him a Happy Father's Day. I will think about the many memories she will never have the opportunity to make and how difficult this day must be for her. And, I will thank God for the beautiful, smart young lady she has become despite the statistics.
Every once in awhile I will pick up a newspaper or magazine, with an article reminding me that research studies show that children without fathers actively involved in their lives have much higher rates of depression, suicide, violence, gang involvement, criminal behavior, educational failure, drug and alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy.
Like any other single mother, I wish with all my heart that my child could have her father in her life. But, certainly in my case this is not going to happen. I would never condone having children out of wedlock, taking divorce lightly, or single-parenthood as a choice. But even if a child is born out of wedlock, even the parents are divorced, and even if single-parenthood was a choice, we are all in the same situation--we have children that we are raising without fathers.
It would be so wonderful if instead of articles letting us know the pitfalls, there were more articles that would give us advice on how to keep our children from being one of those statistics.
Happy Father’s Day!
posted by YouthPlay Staff @ 12:52 AM
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