It is common for people in Nigeria to excuse absent fathers. They claim that it is the duty of women to raise children because men are very busy making money for their families.
What these people don’t know is how much these absent fathers are hurting their children. How can you be absent in your children’s lives and expect them to suddenly love you like nothing happened?
It is sad when these men start claiming that their wives have turned the hearts of their children against them when they were the ones who destroyed the relationship they have with their children by not being present in their lives.
No matter how much this society tries to justify the absence of fathers from the lives of their children, this is encouraging bad behaviour and irresponsibility.
How can a father not know the class his son or daughter is in? How can a father not know the school his son or daughter attends? What excuse do these men have for this behaviour?
How can a father not know their child’s best subject and the one he or she hates? How can a father not know the favourite colours of his children?
How can a father not know when his child is happy or sad? Why are you a parent if your child can’t count on you for emotional and psychological support?
It hurts that the Nigerian society excuses the irresponsibility of these men by claiming that these children will look for their fathers when they become adults.
Nigerians should stop encouraging irresponsibility in men, it’s appalling. Some children don’t even see their fathers often because of the lifestyle these men have adopted and yet people see nothing wrong with this.
It is sad that these people don’t know that the effects of emotionally unavailable fathers are almost the same to that of physically absent fathers.
The effects include social and physiological issues. This is a sad pointer to the current social epidemic in this country that many people are downplaying with cultural and religious excuses.
Here are ways absent fathers are hurting their children:
*Being an emotional absent father makes your children hardened. They lack feelings and find it hard showing emotions.
*Children with absent fathers suffer increased rates of depression and anxiety.
*These children suffer decreased education levels and increased drop-out rates.
*These children have serious relationship issues and more likely to divorce their spouses.
*These children find it hard to get and keep jobs.
* Some of these children become addicted to drugs and abuse substances.
*They have social and mental behavioral issues. They find it hard to interact with others.
*Some of them have anger issues that can be traced back to not having their fathers around.
