Impacts of a Parenting Newsletter on Fathers of Kindergarten Children

Abstract

cialization to parenthood often leaves them less prepared than women for the empathy, connectedness, and responsibility good parenting requires (Brotherson, 2007;Ehrensaft, 1995). Yet parent educators regularly report that recruiting and retaining fathers is more challenging than recruiting and retaining mothers (Hawkins & Fagan, 2001). How can parent educators reach out to fathers? We propose that a parent education newsletter targeting fathers and father figures will be an effective way to offer men the educational tools they need, and to meet men's desire for direct, individualized education (Hawkins & Fagan, 2001;Palm, 1997).Research on the effectiveness of newsletters has focused almost exclusively on mothers. In this article we fill this gap by exploring fathers' and father figures' usage of the Father Times newsletter, their perceptions of the newsletter as a resource, and their perceived impacts on fathers' attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, and father-child relationship quality. We further explore variations in effects by father age, father education, number of children, and perceived impact of the newsletter. How might newsletters impact fathers' or father figures' parenting? Based onBronfenbrenner's ecological theory, family life educators emphasize the interplay between individuals, families, and the larger social context (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). Ecological theory assumes that individuals develop in a multitude of systemic contexts (the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem). The two systems most relevant to the role of newsletters for fathers are the microsystem, which encompasses the relationships and interactions a father and his child have within their immediate surroundings (e.g. the interaction they have at home), and the mesosystem, which represents the connection between the father and the institutions with which he interacts (e.g., the connection between newsletters and the father, or the relationship between the kindergarten center and the father). Thus, guided by this framework, fathers should be able to enhance their skills, increase knowledge about child development, and/or be more attentive to their child's needs (e.g., interaction within the microsystem) by reading the newsletter (e.g., interaction with the mesosystem).