ON considering the role that fathers play in society today,father of three, Sean Wilson, believes that it is a critical one and that the influence of a male figure in the home is still ever important.
Sean believes, too, that being a good father does not come in isolation. In fact, he states that with intellectual stimulation injected by women more and more in the home, this enhances further a man’s role as husband and father.

“If the woman is able to bring these attributes to the relationship, even the man or the husband does not have those attributes. I don’t see that as eroding the role of the man; on the contrary, I believe that these are essential elements that are really necessary to strengthen and build any relationship,” Sean said.

He further commented on the fact that being a counsellor /Pastor,he has advised couples that they aren’t in competition with each other, but that the strength of both parties is geared to enhance the relationship.
Depending on which party has the strength in an area, it is a great asset to the marriage or relationship.
According to him, the important ingredient is dependent on the method of communication to each other.
Wilson drew the conclusion that fathers are therefore relevant in today’s society, hence, they play an important role in a child’s life.

“The home is the first place of training for the child, it is the place where the child can learn critical skills from both parents. Every child needs a father in his or her life. It would be wonderful if both parents are present and play that important role, the father brings important skills particularly to the boys- how to respect women, how to treat a woman. With the absence of those skills training from the father, the child may develop attributes of violence when dealing with situations which he will garner from the streets and that may be contrary to the correct morals,” he said.

It was further noted that because of the skills training of the father particularly, the girl child through education can bring solutions to problems, critical issues that she or her family may face.
Further, it is important to note that the presence of the father in the home and his ability to train the children or child, particularly boys, will prepare the child to assist in household chores in his own marriage.
Thus, precedence is set to the male children that assistance in doing household chores builds and strengthens the relationship in the family and in the home.

Validating the Child
The role of a father in a child’s life helps to validate the child and lifts their self-confidence.
“You talk to a lot of young people today and even older people and one of the things they say, ‘I miss my father validating me’; ‘I miss my father saying you have done a good job,’; while the mother would bring her thinking, I still want to understand from a male’s perspective, so from a holistic perspective, the male brings a different kind of view, to strengthen and enhance the child’s thinking, growth and development in a child’s life,” Sean said.
He contended that the validation of a child is important, particularly when that child would have grown up and taken on the role of a father later in his own life.

“The man functions basically from the experiences of his father, and if he did not have a father who was really active in his life, then perhaps he might look at people in the community or other people in the movies, or he may do what he thinks to be the right way to connect with his child and may necessarily approach that may be beneficial to the child. Sometimes his experiences will be with men like him and so the influence may be that you don’t need to express your love to your child neither be active, once you are providing money, that is sufficient,” Sean contended.

According to him, society must look at the way they prepare men to be fathers; churches and religious organisations, and social clubs need to revise their methods of training.
He concluded that society must revise the way they train men and that there is a lot of work to be done by religious organisations, clubs and social society.