Being a Good Father Is Good for Your Health

It’s no secret that good fathers have a positive impact on the lives of their children. According to The Fatherhood Project, “Children who feel a closeness to their father are twice as likely to enter college or find stable employment after high school, 75 percent less likely to have a teen birth, 80 percent less likely to spend time in jail and half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms.”

However, being a good father isn’t just good for your kids—fathers also reap health benefits from being engaged and active parents.

Health Benefits of Fatherhood

1. Kids are a motivation to be healthy. We all want to raise our kids to be happy and healthy. Often, the desire to be a good role model is enough motivation to eat healthier and exercise regularly. If you’re trying to instill healthy habits in your children, you will naturally find yourself playing more with your kids and cooking more healthy meals at home. On the flip side, kids can force you to create some “me time,” and the gym can provide a healthy escape from the chaos of being a dad.
2. Children demand a more active lifestyle. Kids have so much energy and love to play. If your lifestyle before kids involved a lot of sitting on the couch, expect to change gears. Kids have a tendency to get you up and outside, wrestling on the living room floor, and running around the park. While playtime may not seem like an intense workout, daily activity gets you up and moving, which burns calories throughout the day.
   
3. Children give dads a sense of purpose. The health benefits of fatherhood are not all physical. Starting a family gives men a heightened sense of purpose. "Fatherhood comes with a lot of great health perks. Not only does it inspire men to take better care of themselves physically, but it also fills them with a sense of purpose that genuinely enhances their psychological well-being,” says Marcus Goldman, M.D., author of “The Joy of Fatherhood: The First Twelve Months.”
4. Being a good dad boosts self-esteem. Positive family relationships are proven to boost self-esteem. Men who have strong relationships with their spouse and children tend to have higher self-esteem, which can also benefit a man’s work performance and marital stability. High self-esteem is negatively correlated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and other mental health problems.
   
5. Kids help alleviate stress, sometimes. Kids can be stressful, as all parents know. However, kids also provide a release from adult stresses, like tight deadlines at work and paying your mortgage. Children bring innocence, imagination and silliness to your life, which can actually lighten the burden of adulthood and alleviate symptoms of stress. “Dads who have good relationships with their children are less likely to suffer from chest pain, insomnia, fatigue, indigestion and dizziness,” says psychologist Rosalind Barnett, Ph.D.

2017 Father’s Day Events in OKC

Miles4Smiles Bike Ride

Saturday, June 17 | 7 a.m. Cost: $25-55 Miles4Smiles benefits the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, a non-profit that provides private, residential childcare for children in need, free of charge. You can participate in a 10-, 27-, 44-, or 56-mile bike ride, or help out by volunteering. Registration begins at 6 a.m. on the day of the event. “Baptist Children’s Home, OKC is excited to hold our seventeenth annual Miles4Smiles bike ride,” Baptist Children’s Home Oklahoma City Administrator, Scott Conrad says. “This community outreach has grown to more than 500 in attendance annually with riders raving: ‘Exceptional route support’, ‘Best food of any ride’, and ‘Very well organized.’ Your participation helps support birthday cheer, so we are able to provide joy, laughter, cheer and gifts, creating positive memories for the children and families in our care.”

Equality Run

Father’s Fun Run

Daddy Daughter Dance