Fathers and Family Literacy: More than the bedtime story

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Fathers and Family Literacy More than the
bed-time story

• Sue Nichols
• Fatherhood in a Changing World Seminar
• University of South Australia
• June 19th 2007

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New images of fatherhood

• Fathering involves being there for the child.
• Children require attentive and sustained
  nurturing.
  

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Fathers as the new work-home jugglers

• Peter Brand is a master of the work-family
  juggle. In the morning he dresses his
  three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter and
  drops them off at day care. At the end of the
  day, the 30-year-old senior manager struggles
  to leave the office not at 8 or 9 but by 6pm.
  That gives Brand plenty of time to eat dinner
  with the kids, scrub them in the bath (or do
  dishes if his wife Marcy is handling that), and
  let Dylan, 3, choose a bed time story and a
  prayer before Brand logs on to do more work.
• Brady 2004 Business Week

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Between work and sleep reading time play time
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The bed-time story a fathers job?

• Symbolic of father participation
• Literacy that dovetails with 9-5 work schedules
• Consistent with leisure orientation to childcare
• Consistent with childrens rights discourse

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Mens views on reading

• I hated reading. And I still don't really enjoy
  reading unless it's something that I'm really
  interested in. (Doug)
  
• I hate novels. I cannot pick up a novel and read
  it. (Stanley)
  
• We were always out playing sport, we didn't have
  time to sit down and go and read. (Wayne)
  
• I'm not one for picking up books. I'm not a novel
  reader or anything. (Neil)

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Mothers as reading supervisors

• I think its really important for Marco to read
  to the kids, not just be a female role, that only
  Mum reads to them. (Alicia)
  
• I actually told Rs teacher that I hate to read.
  I cant stand reading, Ill get my husband to do
  it. (Roz)
  
• He would never just have picked up a book and
  said, Ill read you a story. It would have
  been, How about you read a story? (Linda)
  
• Obviously its Terris influence, I guess mainly,
  about reading to the kids and a lot of the stuff
  I read to the kids was the first time Id heard
  it. (Luke)

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• Rosemary I always read stories to the kids anyway
  and I like Daddy to read stories to them
  (laughs).
  
• Sue And do you like to read stories to them
  Stanley?
  
• Stanley No I dont. (Rosemary laughs)
• Rosemary There was one poem that I like him to
  read to the kids. The poem actually read Cross
  patch, draw the latch, sit by the fire and spin
  and he used to read Cross patch, draw the latch,
  sat by the fire and spun. And I used to sit
  there and wait for it every time! (laughs)
• Stanley laughs.
• Rosemary Hes not, he doesnt read the word.
• Stanley And thats what Im scared of.

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But doesnt the research say?

• Children (4/5 years old) who were read to three
  or more times in the last week by a family member
  were more likely to
  
• read or pretend to read (77 percent vs. 57
  percent).
  
• count to 20 or higher (60 percent vs. 44 percent)
  
  
• write their own names (54 percent vs. 40
  percent)
  
• recognize all the letters of the alphabet (26
  vs 14)

Nord, Lennon, Liu Chandler (1999) based on
National Centre for Education Statistics (US)
reports
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Yes, but also

• Children who were told stories three or more
  times in the last week were also more likely than
  those who were not to
  
• read or pretend to read (79 vs. 68 )
• count to 20 or higher (60 vs. 54 )
• write their own names (54 vs. 49 )
• recognize all the letters of the alphabet (28
  vs. 20 )
  

Nord, Lennon, Liu Chandler (1999) based on
National Centre for Education Statistics (US)
reports
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The oral tradition an under-recognised literacy
resource
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Sporting literacy numeracy

• Reading
• sports magazines sections of newspapers
• administrative information eg calendars
• web-sites
• Watching sport on TV or in person
• scoring
• reading play
• reading in-process texts eg diagrams
• listening to commentary commentating,
• Competing/ gaming
• Tipping
• Betting
• Fantasy Footy
• Writing
• Online chatrooms forums
• Keeping notes

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FAST Literacy Program

• Some literacy activities that fathers have
  reported to have participated in with their
  children include
  
• reading environmental print, maps, dictionaries
• bedtime stories,
• spelling names and tracing letters
• Using the computer for spelling or writing
  activities.
  
• When creating the activity list, we considered
  these and other strengths that fathers bring to
  the classroom with them. The FAST literacy
  activities have been designed with the following
  focuses
• active and/or play based
• easily transferred to the home environment
• fathers strengths
• father and teacher friendly
• www.newcastle.edu.au/engagingfathers

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Family literacy for dads in prison

• Training included modelling, viewing videos of
  fathers reading, discussion information about
  family literacy
  
• Range of literature to share with children
• Fathers encouraged to take lead in interaction
• Drawing writing in journals with partners
  scribes if needed
  
• Fathers planned at-home activities for children
• Genisio (1996)

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A dads thoughts on writing a poem

• When I realized it would be for my children I
  began to think about just how vulnerable I wanted
  to be in this. I wrote it out 2-3 times. I was
  honest and focused on who I really am as compared
  to how Id like to be. I feel I have a very good
  understanding of myself to share with my boys.

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Extending family literacy for inclusivity

• Build on the oral tradition
• Link literacy to activity while doing, in
  process
  
• Dont take a limited view of masculine
  interests the literacy opportunities they
  present
  
• Tailor approaches to male carers in different
  circumstances
  

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References

• (2001) Fathers Matter Too, Special Issue of Early
  Childhood Matters, The bulletin of the Bernard
  van Leer Foundation, No. 97 February 2001
  
• Brady, D. (2004) Hopping aboard the Daddy track
  Suddenly, achieving a work-life balance isnt
  just a womens issue. Business Week Vol 3907 p.
  100
• Genisio, M. (1996) Breaking barriers with books
  A fathers book-sharing program from prison
  Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy 40(2)
  92-100
• Nichols, S. (2000). Unsettling the bed-time
  story parents reports of home literacy
  practices, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
  13 http//www.triangle.co.uk/ciec/index.htm
• Nichols, S. (1994). Fathers and Literacy.
  Australian Journal of Language and Literacy
  17(4) 301-312.
  
• Overington, C. (2005) Modern dads revel in
  hands-on parenting. The Weekend Australian Sept
  3-4