Suggestions for Professional Use

OverviewPart of our purpose in creating this web site is to make it useful for family professionals. The challenge to family professionals "is to guide men toward good fathering in diverse circumstances with a sense of hope, optimism, and even excitement " (Palm, 1997, p. 168). Family life educators, extension agents/specialists, social workers, clergy, and university professors have a moral obligation to the fathers they work with to "begin with a sincerely held respect for the people engaged in this sacred and most challenging endeavor" (Deinhart & Dollahite, 1997, p. 186).

Family Life Educators, Extension Agents/Specialist, and Social WorkersFamily life educators, social workers, and extension agents/specialists might be interested in using any of the stories in publications or in presentations. These professionals might also conduct a series (lectures, publications, activities) on fathering. Finally, the questions that follow the stories at the end of each section could be used to start discussion in groups. (The sections about the four areas of work could be particularly useful for this group.) For more information on generative fathering in parent and family life education, please refer to Palm (1997). To use generative fathering in clinical work, see Deinhart & Dollahite (1997).

ClergyClergy could find that these stories could be helpful in illustrating points in sermons. Church members might also enjoy reading these stories in newsletters. It might prompt members to give their own stories. In addition, stories could be used in pastoral counseling and in parenting workshops conducted by clergy. (The sections about faith and fathering, ethical work, and spiritual development might be helpful for clergy.

University ProfessorsAn interesting project in class could have students access and analyze this home page. For students in parenting classes, you could consider having students identify different kinds of parenting approaches used in these stories or by using these stories as data for research projects. Students might also be asked to submit stories to the home page. Assignments could also be integrated with various parts of this home page like having a parenting teenagers assignment that draws on the stories from that section. (The sections on fathering across the lifecycle, in challenging circumstances, and our ideas could be well-suited for use at the university.) For other good ideas for using stories in teaching, refer to Dollahite, Hawkins, & Brotherson (1996) or Dollahite, Morris, & Hawkins (1997).

Additional InformationFor additional information on how to promote better understanding, research , and application of generative fathering in family professions, refer to:

Hawkins, A. J., & Dollahite, D. C. (Eds.). (1997). Generative fathering: Beyond deficit perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.