The Importance of Fatherhood in Family Roles

Abstract

The way to be a good parent is through love, patience, knowledge and effort. There is no definition of the ideal parent. In every family the child is different. Therefore, there are also differences in the definition of what is necessary and good. According to the structure and cultural codes of societies; One can also see that there are differences about the role of mother and father in the family. This diversity is also reflected in the attitude of the parents in raising the child. In general, in all societies, fathers are forgotten for a very long time in the upbringing of the child. Therefore, while there are studies on the mother in theories of child rearing, studies on the fathers are quite limited. Even though there are studies on fatherhood in family roles and roles in the public sphere, with the experience of social change more studies are needed. It is argued that in different societies, especially in Turkey, family dissolution mostly occurs as a result of mothers’ participation in working life and their presence in the public sphere. In family role sharing, it is seen that the mother is largely responsible for the education of the child, as well as for the physical care of the child. In our study, the importance of the role of fatherhood in the sharing of roles and responsibilities regarding the child has been tried to be revealed. In this study, the role of fatherhood in the family was questioned by literature review, sociological analysis of the role of fatherhood at the level of father-child relationship was made by explaining in the context of gender. Thus, it is aimed to evaluate the shaping of the fatherhood role in the historical process, its determination by gender and the effect of this role on the development of the child.