Each June for the past 48 years, families in the U.S. have shown appreciation for fathers, but this year that message takes on a new meaning.<\/p>\n
Kari Adamsons, associate professor of human development and family sciences, and a colleague developed a Father\u2019s Day Factsheet<\/a> to remind fathers how they can connect with their kids to improve their health and development, especially during uncertain times.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s a lot going on families have to deal with, and reminding dads how they can help nurture relationships with their kids is really important,\u201d Adamsons says.<\/p>\n Adamsons and Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, created the factsheet for the Council on Contemporary Families<\/a>, a non-profit organization that disseminates research and best-practice findings on families, to share some important ways fathers benefit their kids.<\/p>\n The reminders, shared below, include things dads can do to foster communication, psychological development, and mental and physical health in their children. They may seem simple, but Adamsons says she is surprised by how many fathers think they don\u2019t matter as much to their kids\u2019 growth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see gender stereotypes reinforcing the idea that moms are the natural caregivers and dads are not,\u201d says Adamsons, whose research focus is fathering, and the ways in which mothers and fathers negotiate parenting roles across contexts and transitions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to parenting, people assume parenting is an instinct, but parenting is actually a learned skill.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, parents are dealing with uncertainty and shifting priorities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted Adamsons\u2019s work with the Council.<\/p>\n The main goal of their “Fast Facts for Father\u2019s Day: a Father\u2019s Day Reminder\u201d factsheet is to help parents and children learn how they can create and maintain healthier relationships.<\/p>\n Four Ways Dads Make A Difference For Their Children<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Dads promote children\u2019s communication skills by asking children questions<\/a>. Men who take primary or equal responsibility for childcare are just as nurturing and sensitive as women, and great models for children.<\/p>\n Dads who laugh with and praise their toddlers have kids who are less distressed in frustrating situations<\/a>.\u00a0 And when Dads show their teens love and acceptance, teens have more positive outlooks, confidence, and better grades in school.<\/a><\/p>\n Dads help raise healthy children by being present at regular family meals<\/a>, encouraging healthy eating and physical activity<\/a>, and modeling healthy behaviors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Non-resident fathers who are involved in child-related activities and have good relationships with their children have a positive influence on children\u2019s social and academic outcomes<\/a>.<\/p>\n What Dads do now not only affects their children, but their grandchildren as well. Dads who are more involved in parenting their kids raise sons who grow up to become more involved fathers and who have better quality relationships with their own children<\/a>. In addition, Dads who coparent well with Moms have sons who later form supportive relationships with their own parenting partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n Above all, the best way to show appreciation this Father\u2019s Day, Adamsons says, is \u201cTell them that you appreciate them and that you love them. No father or child is going to say, \u2018Geez, I wish they didn’t tell me that they love me so often.\u2019 Everyone wants to feel valued and appreciated.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This Father\u2019s Day, UConn researchers remind fathers how important they are to their children\u2019s growth, sharing four ways dads can make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":161985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2214],"class_list":["post-161984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:23:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161986,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161984\/revisions\/161986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/161985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161984"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=161984"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=161984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n