People who work in parent-child programming are accustomed to attending conferences where women outnumber men by a significant margin.
It is a novel – and enlightening– experience to attend a conference where there are as many male participants as there are female, and where the majority of the presenters are male.
The national Fathering Conference in Winnipeg March 1 and 2 was just such an event.
Sponsored by Dad Central Canada, the one and a half day event was entitled “Side by Side: Strategies for Working with Vulnerable Fathers”.
Attending any conference always involves choices – ‘which breakout sessions do I attend?’ – and one person’s notes may not look anything like another’s as a result. When I reviewed my notes after the conference, I found these nuggets.
Father involvement:
- Is greater in the upper and middle classes
- Affects child development
- Is affected by vulnerability and marginalization
Words I Will Not Forget
“I have not failed; I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
What makes a father vulnerable:
- Mental illness
- Incarceration
- Military career
- Newcomer status
- Domestic violence
- Aboriginal background
- Youth
- Non-residential
- Racialized
- Special needs
(I think I would add socio-economic status to the list. Poverty equals vulnerability in many cases and this supports the earlier statement that father involvement is greater in the upper and middle classes.)
Five strength-based assumptions:
- Fathers desire to have regular interaction with their kids.
- Fathers have an innate ability to nurture and care for their children
- Fathers focus on success in all areas of their children’s lives
- Fathers have important and unique gifts to bring to families
- When we strengthen fathers, we strengthen kids.
Words I Will Not Forget
Adolescence is a stage, not an age.
What do dads want in a dad’s group? (as selected by dads in Ontario’s Niagara region).
- Peer to peer
- Evening
- Facilitator with lived experience
- Accessible location
- Topics of interest
- Food
- child care
- “not like school”
- Group of dads
Words I Will Not Forget
Every time you say the words “at risk”, it is potentially prejudicial.
For further information and resources you can go to www.dadcentral.ca