The American family has undergone dramatic changes over the past 30 years. These changes include a redefinition of sex roles, different concepts of discipline and parental authority, new and varied types of alternative families and a dramatic increase in the number of women working outside the home. However, the change creating the greatest concern is the increasing absence of fathers.
Today more than 40 percent of all children below the age of 18 live in a home without the father present. Nearly two-thirds of all children born in the last three years of the 20th century will spend all or part of their childhood living without a father. Father absence is linked to a wide range of social problems including juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, poor academic performance and escalating violence.
In response to his concern about the role of fathers in American society, Rick Zingher has created Dads make a Difference. He has given his presentation to community groups, including high schools, colleges, churches, professional associations and civic organizations, throughout the country. Rick brings his experience as a professor, psychothera
pist, childbirth educator and father to his examination of the role of dads in contemporary American society. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. The 51-minute presentation is informative, interesting, thought provoking and funny. It is an excellent tool to stimulate discussion about this critical issue.
Dads Make a Difference has been recommended by Booklist and Library Journal.
“Examining the role of fathers in American society, professor, psychotherapist, and father, Rick Zingher, refers to pertinent research, popular culture, and his own experiences. After describing the term “father hunger,” the bespectacled Iowan discusses how involved fathers have an impact on child development. Zingher then considers what gets in the way of men being active parents, including ideas about success (is it just economic?) and one’s level of skills and self-confidence. On the other hand, children want approval from a dad who can then help build a self-concept by participating in activities and by demonstrating affection. Yet, dad needs to teach self-control and be a role model. Concluding the well-organized presentation, complete with print screens and captions, Zingher lists the benefits of active parenting and suggests that involvement creates a legacy. Family photos and home movie footage enhance this well-delivered program shot mostly in Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” ~ ALA Booklist
“Zingher, professor of social work at Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, IA, is also a psychotherapist, childbirth educator, and father. Essentially a recording of a presentation he has given to civic, educational, and other groups, this video has rudimentary production values: he speaks to the camera in a playground setting, punctuated by occasional family photos. The lecture itself covers sometimes familiar content on the reasons, problems, and cures for rescuing fathers from the “periphery of family life.” Nevertheless, Zingher is a great communicator. His delivery is conversational as well as authoritative; his content comprehensive, insightful, and peppered with perfectly gauged family and cultural anecdotes that connect the viewer with his material. He manages to convey the dimensions of fathering in a way that generates confidence that they can be grasped in practical terms. This is the sort of effective lecture that might be paired profitably with a superb documentary such as All Men Are Sons (Video Reviews, LJ11/1/02). Plainly packaged but highly recommended for concerned fathers and mothers.”
~ Library Journal
Rick is currently professor of Social Work at Mount Mercy College, an adjunct professor at St. Ambrose University and a facilitator of fathers groups in the childbirth program at Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Contents of Dads Make a Difference DVD
- Introduction
- Understanding the problem: father hunger
- David Blankenhorn
- Margaret Mead
- James Herzog
- The involved father: impact on child development
- Impulse control
- Academic potential
- Social competence
- Sexual activity
- Gender identity
- Nurturing and empathetic
- Independence
- Long term relationships
- The importance of a father’s approval: building a self-concept
- Developing self-esteem
- Looking glass self
- Verbalizing feelings
- Demonstrating affection
- Overidentifying
- Dads and discipline: teaching self-control
- Need for internal controls
- Authoritarian fathers
- Overly permissive fathers
- Balanced fathers
Nurturing vs. demand
- Dads as teachers and role models
- Identification
- Teachable moments
- Role modeling
- How dads benefit from active parenting
- Intimacy
- Sense of masculinity
- Spiritual development
- Physical and mental health
- Conclusion: creating a legacy
- Length: 51 minutes
Dads Make a Difference is available on DVD, VHS and CD for $24.95.
Visit www.dadsmakeadifference.net to order or
visit the Mount Mercy College bookstore
(1330 Elmhurst Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa).
Order online!