Low-Income Dads Are Involved With Their Kids, Study Finds
But doctors still focus mostly on moms, researchers say.
A new study finds that low-income, urban fathers in the United States take an active role in their children’s health and encourage them to eat healthy foods and exercise.
But the study also found that when their kids are sick, some of these dads may not give recommended doses of medicine to their children and may feel ill-equipped to handle emergency medical care.
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers studied 31 fathers, most of them black and Hispanic, average age 31, in Chicago and Milwaukee. About 40 percent of the men earned $34,999 or less a year.
More than half of the fathers said they tried to encourage physical activity and
Health Tip: Help Keep Kids Safe on the Internet
How parents can participate
The Internet holds vast amounts of information that can help kids with school projects and allow them to play interactive games.
But it’s important for parents to carefully monitor which sites their kids are visiting.
The Nemours Foundation offers these guidelines for parents:
* Learn how to use a computer and how to invoke parental controls, such as blocking certain websites.