Lifelong Learning
lethbridge family
Centre focuses on
fathers
The Lethbridge Family Centre team is
taking deliberate steps to celebrate the
important role fathers play in the lives
of children with specific programs and
services that acknowledge some of the
complexities of fatherhood in the 21st
century.
The Centre, already a busy place with
hundreds of visitors in a typical week, has
started hosting Saturday morning sessions
specifically geared to fathers. A large
indoor free play area is overrun with kids
ranging in age from a few months old to
age five, while others use the library or
other play spaces.
Fathers or stepfathers of all ages have
an opportunity to meet and talk while
hanging out with their kids in a different
environment than home or school.
Typically, more than 20 men and kids
attend each Saturday and more than
250 men have attended father-specific
programs over the past five years.
While some dads are wrangling their
kids as they charge around the play space,
others are off in the relative quiet of the
library.
Cody Kelman’s six-month-old son,
Ruckus, isn’t moving around too quickly
yet, but he’s able to sit still long enough
for an intensive reading session that not
only helps him focus, it helps his dad
connect with him.
A recent grant to the Family Centre
from the Community Foundation of
Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta’s
Community Priorities Fund allowed
the organization to purchase a large
collection of library materials, including
some relating to parenting in general and
fatherhood in particular.
As regular visitors to the Family Centre,
Cody, Ruckus, five-year-old daughter
Zakyra and Cody’s mom, Debbie Kelman,
have seen a significant benefit to all
14
“We are hopeful
our efforts raise
the bar on how
people view dads,
stepfathers and
male caregivers”
A
members of the family through their
participation in various programs and
services over the three years the family
has been attending.
Peter Imhof, the Executive Director of
the Lethbridge Family Centre, takes the
approach that any level of sincere parental
involvement in a child’s life is ultimately
good for everyone involved in raising that
child. However, he noticed that there were
gaps in their programming.
Imhof said they wanted to make any
programming they did in this regard highly
relevant to their audience, in this case,
dads, stepfathers or male caregivers. “We
conducted research to see how we could
better support dads, and family members
who in turn support them, to feel better
about parenting.”
Imhof said some research results were
obvious: A working parent like Cody might
not be able to attend a daytime program,
so changes were made to schedule
programming when the majority of dads
could make it. Among their findings were
also some surprises.
“Dads were hesitant to join in for a
variety of reasons, which ranged from
being the only guy in the room – and
feeling uncomfortable with that – to not
having a lot of input because mom is
making all the parenting decisions, and
they were unsure of how to change that,”
Imhof said.
“Knowing that we are moving forward
based on some real research is going to
be very helpful to us, and to parents, long
term.”
Peter Imhof
Family Centre
Imhof added that the research followed
the guidelines established by the
internationally-recognized Adverse Child
Experiences Study, among other sources.
Imhof said the Family Centre will
be celebrating men with themed
programming until Father’s Day (June
19, 2016) and through a social media
campaign based on the Twitter hashtag
#YqlDads. “We believe there is much to
celebrate about fatherhood and the role
men play in the development of children,”
Imhof said.
“We are hopeful our efforts raise the
bar on how people view dads, stepfathers
and male caregivers, and in the process
let men know that they play a special and
important role in creating rich and resilient
communities.”
A
Cody Kelman reads to his six-monthold son, Ruckus, in the Family Centre
library space. Kelman is one of a large
group of fathers who spend time at the
Family Centre on Saturday mornings
with their kids, taking part in structured
and unstructured activities.