Wake Up People

Aisha Reed
Professor McKennon
English 67, 4:45
19 October 2011 Wake Up People

As children grow in this world full of shameless discoveries, we have uncovered an epidemic of fatherless homes. Have we ever asked this question? What happens to the children that grow up without fathers, and how do they contribute to society once they are adults? Not having a father in the home may seem like nothing uncommon, but it should be. According to the article from The News Letter of the Bay Area Male involvement Network - “Fatherless Homes Breed Violence,” shows startling statistics from numerous reliable sources, such as the Center for Disease Control that our youth are plagued with violence and self-destructive behavior because there is not a positive father in the home. This trend needs to be addressed and brought to the publics attention. Ignorance of this situation can no longer be accepted. As children grow up in the home lacking the affection and guidance from a positive male figure, some children will turn to drugs to numb the emptiness. According to The News Letter of the Bay Area Male involvement Network - “Fatherless Homes Breed Violence,” children from fatherless homes are 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances and 5 times more likely to commit suicide. This is a wide spread social issue. Not having the father in the home can cause great grief and a sense of resentment towards one self. Children that take drugs or commit suicide will usually take this approach do to being depressed, and to be able to block it from their minds. As we all know, a child on drugs will soon turn out to be a student not in school. The News Letter of the Bay Area Male involvement Network - “Fatherless Homes Breed Violence,” states that 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (Source: National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools.) We can see this is definitely a domino affect of a child in ruins. Before we start out bashing the men about not being there for their children, lets take a look at what the women are doing to contribute to the fatherless homes. Women are the first to start pointing the finger and blaming the man for not being in his child's life, but when he is trying, mom is right there in the way telling him (in front of the child) how much of a dead beet he is. Fathers are faced with an obstacle that is hard to complete. How does he be there with his children and please the mom at the same time when the relationship is over? Men have a hard time being there for there children when the mom is scorned over a bad break-up. She will make sure every visit with the child is about her. This selfish behavior plays a big role on fatherless homes. Fathers will become agitated and with the lack of knowing how to overcome this will usually result in the father just staying away. We need our moms to realize that this is not about them. This is about creating the most positive and loving atmosphere for the child. This is about creating a life where the child can have both parents so the child can get the best chance of growing to be a mentally and emotionally stable adult that exhibits positive behaviors. Many men have been left out of the picture. They are a none factor these days. There was a time when a two parent home was glorified. Our fathers need to be educated on the importance of being there and in the child's life. We need to step up and make men accountable for their actions. We need our fathers and dads to be in the child's life not just needed as child support. We need to make a court order that the dad needs to spend so many hours with the child having positive interaction, and maybe even a father and mother class on how to raise children successfully without being together. We need to encourage father time and more father participation in the child's life. Children want and need father time and it is about time they get it. 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992) and 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes(Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept 1988) according to, The News Letter of the Bay Area Male involvement Network - “Fatherless Homes Breed Violence.” These statistics needs to be brought up continually so we can get the picture on whats going on with our youth that does not have a father in the home. We as people need to recognize the importance of this matter. Fatherless homes are killing our children emotionally, mentally, socially, and physically. We need our dads, our fathers, and our positive male role models. We need our great dad that helps his children develop a strong foundation of faith in themselves, in others and in something greater than themselves, according to an article called “Best Practices of Fathers”. I work with at- risk teens at a high school, and very many of them do not have a father in the home. Many them are not even 18 years old yet, but has been to jail multiple times (males and females). Our school is their last resort. The regular high schools do not want to deal with them because they have so many behavioral problems. My point is, if we can keep positive male role models in the home from the beginning maybe we will not have such a negative ending. Ignorance of fatherless homes needs to stop. Wake up people.