Hello World,

Happy Father’s Day to My Father, My Husband AND to ALL of the After the Altar Call Readers Who Are Fathers! I hope you enjoy your special day…

Unfortunately, Father’s Day tends to not get as much shine as Mother’s Day and that’s truly sad…I won’t get into potential reasons why in this blog post, but I did want to share a resource for some fathers who may be struggling with the stresses of fatherhood…Why?

1. Men’s mental health: New dads are particularly vulnerable as financial and work pressures coupled with a huge life change can have a significant impact. (I know this firsthand as I’ve watched my husband transform from a husband to a father of twin girls.)
2. Gender equality, gendered parenting roles and the pandemic: The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has had a prolific impact on the way we live and work. There has been some positive progress on the collective role of dads, with fathers taking on more parenting responsibilities than ever before.  However, women still do the large majority of childcare and have paid the price in the pandemic with mothers being more likely than fathers to be furloughed and at a higher risk of job losses. As a collective we need to do more to challenge gendered parenting roles. We need to move away from the concept that caring is for women and being the main breadwinner is for men – those outdated stereotypes are damaging for everyone: men, women and children.

Unapologetic podcast host Ruth Jackson discusses the above with Elliott Rae, the founder of MusicFootballFatherhood, who was diagnosed with PTSD following the birth of his daughter. He speaks about experiencing God in the midst of suffering. He shares how becoming a father changed his life and theology. Catch the conversation here: https://www.premierinsight.org/program/unapologetic/ and below…

Any thoughts?