{This is a version of an earlier FB post}
As an advocate for fatherhood through my blog “Helping Fathers to be Dads” and my book, ‘The Power of Dadhood,’ I fear a movement that threatens the core family. My goal of helping men to be the best dads they can be is, at its heart, the goal of achieving as many nuclear families as possible. It is the nuclear family that is the building block for a civil society. There is no doubt in my mind that it is at this level where problems begin or are prevented.
The families that have suffered the most are Black families. In my six-plus years of writing about fatherhood, I have very rarely singled out Black families. But when 72% of Black children are born out of wedlock, and 65% live without a father in the home, it is not surprising that young boys from broken homes try to prove themselves in dangerous ways, and young girls look for love in all the wrong places. While I simply and obviously agree that Black lives undoubtedly matter, I’d like to point out that the organization ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) does NOT support the nuclear family. This group admits this on their website on their ‘About’ page.
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
I contend BLM has full rights to air their grievances. However, while people I fully respect and love support the BLM movement, I hope they can separate themselves from the idea that the nuclear family is not essential. My book has clear statistics of the harm caused when a family does not have both a father and a mother in the home.
Of course, nuclear families have many reasons for not existing or for breaking down - true for all races and all mixed-race families. When necessary, it does take a village to raise a child. But first of all, many ‘villages’ don’t do it or do it well. Secondly, if they can do it well, it can never replace a loving mother and father.
I cannot help but pray and believe that if just 75-80 % of all American families had both a nurturing mother and father in the home or at least working with each other, the ills of this country would plummet!
Please watch the video below.
As an advocate for fatherhood through my blog “Helping Fathers to be Dads” and my book, ‘The Power of Dadhood,’ I fear a movement that threatens the core family. My goal of helping men to be the best dads they can be is, at its heart, the goal of achieving as many nuclear families as possible. It is the nuclear family that is the building block for a civil society. There is no doubt in my mind that it is at this level where problems begin or are prevented.
The families that have suffered the most are Black families. In my six-plus years of writing about fatherhood, I have very rarely singled out Black families. But when 72% of Black children are born out of wedlock, and 65% live without a father in the home, it is not surprising that young boys from broken homes try to prove themselves in dangerous ways, and young girls look for love in all the wrong places. While I simply and obviously agree that Black lives undoubtedly matter, I’d like to point out that the organization ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) does NOT support the nuclear family. This group admits this on their website on their ‘About’ page.
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
I contend BLM has full rights to air their grievances. However, while people I fully respect and love support the BLM movement, I hope they can separate themselves from the idea that the nuclear family is not essential. My book has clear statistics of the harm caused when a family does not have both a father and a mother in the home.
Of course, nuclear families have many reasons for not existing or for breaking down - true for all races and all mixed-race families. When necessary, it does take a village to raise a child. But first of all, many ‘villages’ don’t do it or do it well. Secondly, if they can do it well, it can never replace a loving mother and father.
I cannot help but pray and believe that if just 75-80 % of all American families had both a nurturing mother and father in the home or at least working with each other, the ills of this country would plummet!
Please watch the video below.
