Old and New Expectations for Fathers Page 3

Mariposa Men’s

Wellness Institute

Health Of Children

Old Expectations

New Expectations

•Men have a shared responsibility with women for the health of their offspring.
•Men’s prenatal nutrition and health care affect the female partner who, in turn, affects the baby.
•Men and women will respond to a public education campaign about the male role in prenatal care.

Tips

1.Think Win-Win: “Show men that their health behaviors will help them and their partners. And it will promote the health of their unborn babies, so its a win-win win.”
2.Be Dramatic: “To reach men, messages have to be realistic and provocative because prenatal health is not typically thought of as a male issue. You need to grab their attention.”
3.Talk Man-to-Man: “Use focus groups to figure out what messages men will respond to. Use talent and images that men will relate to. Don’t try to be politically correct by avoiding sports images: they work with men.”
4.Establish a Positive Response Mechanism: “Give men specific and positive steps that they can take to help them themselves and their partners have a healthy baby. Make sure you have resources to refer men to; don’t leave them hanging after you’ve gained their interest.”

Alan Haveson, Director of Communications, March of Dimes

Parenthood

Old Expectations

•Only girls need to be educated about parenthood.
•Public schools are already too busy to start preparing students for the rights and responsibilities of fatherhood.
•Middle- and high-school students are not ready to learn about fatherhood.

New Expectations

•Boys and girls need to be educated about parenthood.
•Public school personnel are eager to help prepare students for the rights and responsibilities of fatherhood, if they have the right tools to do so.
•Middle- and high-school students are eager to learn about fatherhood.

Tips

1.Do Your Homework: “Because we spent so much time building this up slowly, we found out a lot about how to communicate with kids, what kids are interested in, what they will ask for.”
2.Get a Broad Buy-In: “We were convinced of the difference this could make from our constant feedback in meeting with teens. Because we believed in what we were doing and figured out what message others would be receptive to, we got support.”
3.Be Prepared to Spend a Lot of Time: “Developing this project has been extremely time-consuming because of the necessary research and development steps to work through the bureaucracy, and it’s going to continue to be a lot of hard work for a few years. We’ve got over 1,000 school districts to go out and convince. Our biggest concern is to make sure these materials don’t go on a shelf and collect dust.”

Ann Costilow, Office of the Attorney General

Establishing Paternity

Old Expectations

•Fathers do not establish paternity because they are irresponsible.
•Hospital workers need to take an adversarial role towards fathers.
•Paternity establishment needs to be “sold” on the basis of child support enforcement.

New Expectations

•Fathers do not establish paternity because they are not educated.
•Hospital workers need to take on the role of being educators to fathers and mothers.
•Paternity establishment needs to be “sold” on the basis of the benefits to the father and the child.

Tips

1.Don’t Reduce Men to Dollar Signs: “We don’t want to reduce men to dollar signs. There’s a lot more to parenting than financial support.” Ann Garcelon, West Virginia Department of health and Human Resources.
2.Get a Broad Buy-In: It’s important to market the idea to the right people, to bring all the right players to the table to work things out ahead of time.”
3.Public Education is Key: “We need to start educating both moms and dads about the importance of fathers. And we need to educate teachers, counselors, coaches, the clergy, parents, and anybody who works with kids. And we need to educate our politicians.”