A Tale of Two Fathers
As family networks become less important in modernity, father-child ties must be insisted upon to remain a viable site of trust.
According to a 2011 Pew Research article called “A Tale of Two Fathers,” the percentage of fathers living away from their children is growing:
In 1960, only 11% of children in the U.S. lived apart from their fathers. By 2010, that share had risen to 27%.
At the same time, fathers who do live with their children are spending more time with them:
In 1965, married fathers with children under age 18 living in their household spent an average of 2.6 hours per week caring for those children. Fathers’ time spent caring for their children rose gradually over the next two decades—to 2.7 hours per week in 1975 and 3 hours per week in 1985. From 1985 to 2000, the amount of time married fathers spent with their children more than doubled – to 6.5 hours in 2000.
The increasing number of absent fathers suggests that the traditional family structure is breaking down, while the increasing involvement of present fathers suggests that those who maintain the structure must do so by being more involved in their children’s lives.
In a world that finds ways to replace fathers (e.g. via the welfare state or alternative family structures) and questions whether they are necessary at all, winning a child’s trust takes more deliberate effort than ever before.