Opinion Piece

The Absence of a Father: Are They Aware?

An editorial by Luis Portillo
Clearly, now a days teenage couples are having unprotected sex
without being aware of what can be the consequences. Obviously, the
consequence will be a child. However, there is more to that. The couple
will probably wont be as mature and responsible as they should.
Teenagers want to party and live their wild life still (clubbing, playing
sports, spend time with friends, etc.). When there is a baby aboard,
that life doesnt work anymore. Therefore, relationships dont work and
they separate. What is the common thing to happen? Guess? Guess
how many children live a fatherless environment? It is 1 out of 3
children. This rate adds up to 24 million children- according to the
National Fatherhood Initiative organization.
Fatherless, or Daddyless, is to lack a male on your mothers
relationship, technically. But in reality, it is the lack of a male parent to
teach a boy to build a good character that will make him succeed in
their future. For a girl, according to Lyanlant Vanzant, is to teach her
how to be in a nonsexual, intimate relationship with a man. In other
words, to respect herself and to recognize her worthiness. In many
cases, a father can be physically present. However, what a child wants
and what a child needs is for a father to be socially and interactively
present for them to have an intimate relationship.
Health classes during high school
or even middle should teach this
topic of unprotected sex to try to
encourage them to not do so.
More importantly
parents should also have this
conversation with their children. I
remember having this lesson
during my health class in middle
school, but more importantly what
has helped me abstain from
having a baby at such a young
age is the constant conversation
with my mother to stay in school and not
commit the same mistake she
Fatherless children struggle with
did. It has cost me working
socio-emotional and academic
longer hours of work for very low
functioning. They are also most
paying jobs, my mother once
likely to be involved on behavioral
told me. This has stayed in my
mind throughout my education.

A highly amount of poverty cases are because the absence of a father

in a family. Families with a present father are likely to have four times
more money than a single mother child. In 2011, 12 percent of
children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to
44 percent of children in mother-only families. Daddyless daughters
have an increased risk of teen pregnancy, since theyve never been
thought how to be in a nonsexual, intimate relationship with a man.
It does not only affect the teen pregnant, but the marriage that is
likely to be without high school diplomas. Another study shows that
family structure significantly predicts delinquency. All of this factors
just link back to poverty. So if youre one of those who care about
poverty all over the world, trying to fix fatherless families could be a
great start to prevent poverty.
In the quest of my search to find solutions to this problem, I am
completely sure that there is no type of medication to prevent
relationships to abstain from sex without commitment, have protected
inter course, find other activities to do, and stay focus in their future.
All these actions I just mentioned are really just about self-commitment
or self-awareness of what they are getting to. To be aware that they will
be affecting their child. The best solution I can think about is to enforce
furthermore the law of Child Support. For authorities to track those
men who try to escape from the law and save some money.
Other problems resulting from the fatherless factor are alcohol and
drug abuse, obesity and struggles in education. Society keep focusing
and linking this problems to other factors, and they do not realize that
the father factor plays a big role as the initiative to all the resulting
problems for children. However, there is only this religious groups that
try to help keep families together and plus some very few laws.

References
Borunda, D. (2008, August 8). Violence spikes in El Paso this summer - El Paso Times.
Retrieved from http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_10153855

Father Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistics

Howard, K. S., Burke Lefever, J. E., Borkowski, J.G., & Whitman , T. L.

(2006). Fathers
influence in the lives of children with adolescent mothers. Journal
of Family Psychology, 20, 468- 476.

Kruk, E. (May). Father Absence, Father Deficit, Father Hunger | Psychology Today.
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/co-parenting-afterdivorce/201205/father-absence-father-deficit-father-hunger

National Fatherhood Initiative. (n.d.). How to Engage Female Staff to Effectively Engage
Fathers. Retrieved from http://www.fatherhood.org/how-female-staff-can-engage
fathers?
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Oprah. "'Daddyless Daughters': How Growing Up Without A Father Affects A Woman's

Standards And Choices (VIDEO)." The Huffington Post. N.p., July Web.
17 July 2015.

Sutherland, Anna. "Yes, Father Absence Causes the Problems Its

Associated With

Family Studies." Family Studies | The Blog of

the Institute for Family Studies.

N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2015.