Dear Editor: Trinidad and Tobago will benefit by better valuing our fathers

“[…] This apathy is societal, in which the positive impacts of involved fathers are ignored. And we do not seem to care to make any necessary changes to this for the benefit of our society.

“Jamaica recently introduced a clear paternity leave policy. In T&T… nothing—3 or 4 days in the public service, nothing official to guide everyone else; although some organisations individually have a bit more…”

The following Letter to the Editor on the way that Trinidad and Tobago values fathers was submitted to Wired868 by Michael Bascombe:

Father’s Day 2023 is here. However the difference in appreciation for those performing their fatherly duties was noticeable. One local radio station asked (mostly in vain) for people to call in and show support for ‘Daddy’. This was in stark contrast to the daily requests for songs to play for mummy during the lead up to Mother’s Day.

This apathy is societal, in which the positive impacts of involved fathers are ignored. And we do not seem to care to make any necessary changes to this for the benefit of our society.

Jamaica recently introduced a clear paternity leave policy. In T&T… nothing—3 or 4 days in the public service, nothing official to guide everyone else; although some organisations individually have a bit more.

Additionally, we continue to see the calls within civil society for a more equitable distribution of custody arrangements of children (by the courts)—as more and more men wish to play that significant role in the lives of their offspring.

It is important that we see fathers as critical and not just focus on those who reproduced but did not accept responsibility.

We therefore have to speak about fatherhood more positively, to encourage the behaviours we wish to see and remove all the real (and perceived) legal and policy barriers that seem to prevent some men from being actively involved with their children.

We need our fathers in a society so affected by crime. We need to remember that:

• Fathers and infants can be as equally attached as mothers and infants;
• Father involvement is related to several positive outcomes in infants, including weight gain;
• Father involvement in parenting leads to better emotional, academic, social and behavioural outcomes for children;

• Children who are close to their father are statistically less likely to spend time in prison, have children as teenagers, or have depressive symptoms;
• Father absence can hinder development form early infancy through childhood and into adulthood
• Higher levels of father involvement correlates with high levels of sociability, confidence and self-control in children.

I can go on. Celebrate our fathers, T & T—at least on the day designated to them. Do so wholeheartedly and leave the criticism of those considered deadbeats or the compare and contrasting of fatherhood with motherhood for other days.

Let the real daddies actually feel appreciated.

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