A Father’s Place Is in the School – NY Times

The NYT recently ran two pieces about increased involvement by men in PTAs.  First appearing in the Sunday edition with a supplement in Monday’s School Book, these articles explored how what’s happening in New York’s public schools is part of a nationwide trend:

A 2009 study by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and the National Center for Fathering, a nonprofit educational organization, found that 590 of 1,000 fathers surveyed nationwide said they attended school parent meetings. That is up from 470 out of 1,000 a decade earlier.

via A Father’s Place Is in the School – SchoolBook.

While I have not joined the PTA, I’ve gradually become more active/present in the school-lives of both boys over the last two years.  In Teen Khalifa’s case, I was simply another  “Football Dad,” that army of men that for the love of the gridiron does everyone from 6am drop-offs to cooking breakfasts for the team.  Sports have long been the one place where you are guaranteed to find paternal engagement.

With Singing Biscuit it’s a bit more complex.  He now attends school where I work, so not only have I had to acclimate myself to this environment as a teacher/employee, I am also having to do so as a parent.  This is no easy task, and one that I am just now starting to get the groove of.  Singing Biscuit’s teachers are both my peers and his teachers so I have to remember to keep the same distance as I would with one of Teen Khalifa’s teachers when approaching them.

These NYT articles really resonated because in some ways I am where many of the men mentioned in the article were 5-6years prior and its interesting reading about their evolutions at their children’s schools.

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