Beyond the mere desire to become a father, to exercise healthy fatherhood today it is advisable to rethink the social implications that men have in the face of the modern dynamics of being a family.
Among others, that of assuming shared responsibility for the positive upbringing of daughters and sons. This is a demand of great social significance, of which the United Nations promotes in search of a more harmonious, healthy, and violence-free family coexistence.
Considering Father's Day, which is commemorated today, June 20, the Jalisco Health Secretariat (SSJ) held a virtual panel with experts to address concepts such as healthy parenting and the role that the father plays today.
"The development of a healthy and responsible parenthood promotes, in turn, a culture of peace and well-being in the new forms of family and their reproductive health," said Luis Armando Castillo Barajas, coordinator of the Gender Equality in Health Program of the OPD Jalisco Health Services.
Healthy parenting should give women equality with men, so that both can perform tasks once assigned to only one of them, he commented.
David Aguilar González, psychologist in the Citizen Attention sector of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Missing Persons, highlighted that masculinities are constructions at a social level that involve cultural, religious, and economic factors; and generate an expectation about what men should be.
“To speak of a process of change is to consider healthier and more conscious masculinities in the search for equal opportunities. It is very difficult to talk about healthy parenting when I am not able to perceive myself as vulnerable, because it is these macho ideas that are going to be in the accompaniment of girls and boys, where the rules of life will tend to repeat acts," indicated the specialist.
Yair Maldonado Lezama, coordinator of the Training Subprogram in Gender and Development A.C., expressed that the idea of masculinity responds to “expectations that are socially held by men, and the result of centuries of sexual segregation and social ordering, in which tasks are divided and actions are carried out through roles and stereotypes. Masculinities and femininity do not exist in an innocuous way, but rather exist with the purpose of separating and generalizing the masculine over the feminine.”.
In turn, Héctor Manuel Máruez Sánchez, re-education facilitator in the SSJ Gender Violence Program, added that the terms in which you learn to be men in this society still have a lot to do with competence, control, and dominance.
“The function of being a father has a lot to do with the moment that fatherhood arrives. Among the main functions of being a father, it would have to be modeling the child who is going to be part of society. Parents should not only try to provide adequate housing, food, education, health, and clothing to their children, but also have the responsibility to provide them with love, friendship, time, and protection,” indicated the facilitator.
The SSJ helps people work around eliminating violent behaviors under the strategy "I Want and I Can Build Healthy Relationships" through reflective groups for men.
Suggestions for improving family environments at home:
Participate more time with the family.
Equally share responsibility in raising children.
Create flexibility in family dynamics.
Make clear the responsibilities of each person in your home.
Make clear the rules of the house and the disciplinary actions.
Take the initiative on important issues.
Exercise a more conscious parenting.
Consider what and how you say something before you say it.
Support your children with positive recognition and input.
Have patience to individual change.
For more information on the subject, call 30305000 extension 25201, or WhatsApp 3313266845, or email:
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