It's Time to Man-Up!

I love living in the Cleveland area. I think it is a great place to live and raise a family. Our area offers museums, great music, theaters, world-class hospitals, and four major sports franchises (welcome back Arena Football League: Cleveland Gladiators) just to name a few.

We, of course, have challenges in this area. My pastoral colleagues and I are raising an army to confront one of these challenges—the growing number of children growing up without a strong male role model in their lives.

The graph below shows the nature of our problem. I should point out that these are old statistics pulled off of my denomination’s research web site. We’ll have a fresh set of stats to look at next year after the 2010 census.


You can click on this graph to enlarge it

This graph tells us that ten years ago, more than one third of the children in our school district were living in a home without a strong male role model. It is reasonable to assume that this situation has worsened. We’ll soon learn what that percentage is today.

Consider the statistics listed below to get an idea of the problems that children face growing up without a strong male role model (Source: AllProDads.com).

63% of youth suicides
are from fatherless homes
(Source: U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census)

90% of all homeless and runaway children
are from fatherless homes

85% of all children that exhibit
behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes
(Source: Center for Disease Control)

80% of rapists come from fatherless homes
(Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1978.)

71% of all high school dropouts
come from fatherless homes
(Source: National Principals Report on the State of High Schools .)

75% of all adolescent patients in

chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes
(Source: Rainbows for all God’s Children.)

85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home
(Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992)

I’ve been enjoying getting to know our state senator, Nina Turner. In a conversation we had last week she told me that she was raised by her mom and grandmother. She told me that her neighbors, relatives, and church family would step in to help single moms when their kids got out of line. Referring to the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child,” she said the village assisted her mom. She added thoughtfully, “But now the village is sick.”

The Mayor of Bedford, Dan Pocek, met with several local clergy members last week. He shared with us his concern over what he calls “a lack of civility” demonstrated by a growing number of young people in our community. A lack of civility has at its root the lack of respect for authority. One of the primary things a dad does is to teach his child to respect, and respond appropriately to, authority at an early age.

All of this points to a great resource need in our community. We need men to man-up! Dad, spend time with your kids. Teach them how to respect authority. Remind them that they are a one-of-a-kind creation. Love them like crazy. But . . . we need you to do a bit more than that.

Look around you. There are children in your neighborhood that would benefit more than you can imagine from just an hour of your time each week. Dads and Grandpas, can you widen your circle to include a kid that doesn’t have a dad or grandpa? Look around; you know some kids like this. In the months to come we will be launching some programs that will help you in connecting with a fatherless child. But don’t wait for a program. Invite your kid’s friends to your dinner table. Take an extra boy along the next time you go fishing. Take another kid with you on your next family outing. You’ll know what to do.

If we are going to reverse this trend, good men are going to have to get involved. It is time to man-up.