blog post # 9 Fathering:Paradoxes, Contradiction, and Dilemas

    It is important to have a father figure in a child's life, which teaches him a model figure of masculinity that a woman wont be able to teach him.
    Scott Coltrane says that " when fathers are active in infant care, boys develop an intimate knowledge of masculinity"(433).Boys are always going to need the help of a father in process of becoming men, and who is better then a father who is a man and knows what it takes to become one.If a father is always taking care of his child most of the time and spending time with him, this one is going to automatically capture the idea of masculinity. A father who is responsible for his family support and well being is going to teach his son how to be responsible and provide to his family, and being in charge of the family well-being is a role of masculinity that all men should accomplished.
       On the other hand, there i the idea about women raising a child by her-self, especially a boy, it does not means that women are not able to do it but that a male role model of masculinity is necessary in a boy's life.Coltrane established this idea of a boy missing a father would be like when he says that " when a father is rarely around, boys lack a clear sense of masculinity and construct their identities in opposition to thing feminine by devaluing and criticizing women"(433).This means that boys that has that lack of fatherhood and more of the motherhood in their development as adults, attend to be more soft, in other words mama boys.
            I think that both men and women are necessary in a child life in order them to have a balanced mentally and view of life from both sides, but when talking about masculinity and boy, i'm convince that men role is unreplaceable by anyone.