Papa was a Rolling Stone

i have seen friends and family devastated by men who were sexually abusive, physically violent or just neglectful. not all men do this, there are many men who make wonderful fathers, and mothers are just as capable of being bad parents as men are (although in reality this is much less frequent).

so my official position on this is that children don't necessarily need a mum and a dad, but they do need a loving family. whether that is provided by a single mother, a single father, a mother and a father, a gay couple, grandparents, adopted parents, older siblings, it doesn't matter, as long as they have a safe and loving environment.

but maybe someone who grew up through a messy divorce or in a single-parent household would have a different take on this.

if they manage to provide a loving home environment, then yes. but no more than anyone else who provided a loving home environment for their children. i mean, sure its great that some women no longer feel like they have to rely on a man for anything, and they should be applauded for their independence but parenting is a completely different issue.

my reply: it doesn't matter, as long as they have a safe and loving environment.

IT WAS THE 3RD OF SEPTEMBER

THE DAY I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER

CAUSE THAT WAS THE daaaaaaaayyyy THAT MY FATHER DIED

lol at me for not even checking what this thread was actually about

lol

while we're here.

less than 25% of households are made up of married couples raising kids.

This statistic, if it's like others I've seen, probably counts empty nesters and young couples, which is disingenuous. Statistics about "households" are usually misleading or need to be explored.

dag gum it

back to the OP: Do children need fathers?

Children need love, encouragement, and good examples of successful adults.

It really helps if these things come from both men and women, rather than just women, but the men do not need to be the fathers of the children. Hell, my wife's first husband always claimed that his most influential father figure was Richard Basehart's character on the tv series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Those children also wouldn't exist without male sperm, but that's another, less-interesting subject.

fwiw, when I bumped this earlier, I'd assumed it was a thread about the song & only realized the gravity of its actual content when it posted to ILE instead of ILM. carry on, then..

Reverend OTM

Yeah this thread title is confusing, esp on Site New Answers. Not that it isn't a great, great song. But it's also an interesting topic.

I grew up essentially fatherless.

"Do children need fathers?" is essentially "Can women raise children by themselves?" This often, but not always, boils down to "Can a woman live without a man to take care of her and her children?" There's still too many people around who would answer "No" to the last question.

My parents had a 40+ year marriage, the last 20 of which was a miserable boring slog. My father tried to leave a few times and was talked out of it every time. I pretty much raised myself (emotionally, that is) and am glad I did.

Love this sh1t

The OP does the usual concern-trolling on this subject. Kids need love and guidance. The best delivery system for these is whatever works.