It requires more of fathers than being there—though that’s a good start. Fathers MUST learn/know how to extend emotional intimacy; lavish healthy affection; thoroughly dependable unconditional love; firm fitting boundaries etc. They must make a heart to heart emotionally bonded CONNECTION that endures at least the first 6-8 years of life. Merely showing up at ball games is a good start but NOT SUFFICIENT in and of itself.
And it’s very difficult for the present generation of Black men to do that, not because they’re necessarily dodging their responsibilities, but because so many simply don’t know how because of their own single mother (and frequently dysfunctional) upbringing. Restoring the importance of marriage is a must, too.
Everything except this makes sense.
The teenage years are crucial to making a young man respect women.
A father must be there to ensure that his son treats his mother and sisters with respect. At home is where a boy learns how a man treats women.
If the teenage boy is permitted to treat his mother or sisters harshly and with disrespect the father must come down hard on the young man so that he knows the man he respects most will not tolerate disrespect of women.
A teenage boy left to the influence of his peers will learn that women are inferior and can be treated as such.
An adolescent boy needs a father to teach him to be a gentleman.
Tony Dungy’s All Pro Dad