Father's Day is a time that never seems to receive the same
attention as Mother's Day. An expert at The University of
Western Ontario shares his thoughts on how dads can become more
involved and recognized in their children's lives.
Neil Campbell, professor in the Departments of Family Medicine
and Psychiatry at Western, is an expert on fatherhood, prenatal
dads, expectant fathers and first-time fathers. He is also
executive director of Dads Can (
www.dadscan.ca
), an organization based in London, Ont. that promotes
responsible and involved fathering, and a psychotherapist at
the London Health Sciences Centre.
He offers these comments as Father's Day approaches:
"The role of fathers has changed a great deal over the past
several decades," says Campbell. "Today, the average father is
28.6 years of age (in the Middlesex London area) when his first
child is born. Many of these new dads feel parenting to be a
shared responsibility and view it as teamwork."
 There is an increase in the number of dads wanting to
participate more actively in parental leave, with some
considering staying at home for part of it.
"My advice to new dads is to be there - communicate, play, be involved at all levels of your child's development.
Learn to put your child first. It isn't easy, but with
careful planning and the balancing of work, family and self
needs, it can be done."
Campbell's book "Dads Under Construction: Adventures in
Fatherhood" (Dundurn Press), available in bookstores across
Canada, is the first Canadian book for fathers on responsible
involvement, written from a man's perspective.
The book provides personal memories of Campbell's journey
into fatherhood, first as a son, then as a father, sharing his
insights on how to be an involved father. He believes the
answers to the question "what is an involved father?" can be
found within the experiences and stories of our own lives.
"A father is always under construction," says Campbell. "Men
don't become fathers by some magical process of just knowing
what to do or by just being there. They become fathers by being
involved. You play an essential role in your child's
development and it is important to be there, be involved and to
be responsible. Father is not something you are, but something
you do. It is an activity for life."
