Parent Percentages

Fathers play a huge role in the lives of their children. Here's some interesting facts about fathers who do not participate in their kids' lives.

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. (this means 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide)

• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. (this means 24.3 times more likely to run away)

• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes. (this means 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral disorders)

• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. (this means 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school)

• 70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes

• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. (this means 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager)

• Nearly 2 of every 5 children in America do not live with their fathers.

• Daughters who perceive that their fathers care a lot about them, who feel connected with their fathers, have significantly fewer suicide attempts and fewer instances of body dissatisfaction, depression, low self-esteem, substance use and unhealthy weight.

• Teenagers living in single-parent households are more likely to abuse alcohol and at an earlier age compared to children reared in two-parent households

• In a study of 146 adolescent friends of 26 adolescent suicide victims, teens living in single-parent families are not only more likely to commit suicide but also more likely to suffer from psychological disorders, when compared to teens living in intact families

• Children reared by a divorced or never-married mother are less cooperative and score lower on tests of intelligence than children reared in intact families. Statistical analysis of the behavior and intelligence of these children revealed "significant detrimental effects" of living in a female-headed household. Growing up in a female-headed household remained a statistical predictor of behavior problems even after adjusting for differences in family income.

• Children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, are less prone to depression and are more successful in relationships. Children from one-parent families achieve less and get into trouble more than children from two parent families.

• Nationally, 15.3 percent of children living with a never-married mother and 10.7 percent of children living with a divorced mother have been expelled or suspended from school, compared to only 4.4 percent of children living with both biological parents.

• Only 13 percent of juvenile delinquents come from families in which the biological mother and father are married to each other. By contract, 33 percent have parents who are either divorced or separated and 44 percent have parents who were never married.

• Seventy percent of juveniles in state reform institutions grew up in single- or no-parent situations.

These are all very sad percentages, and the scary thing is that there's so many of these that all you have to do is Google "kids without dads statistics" or a sentence with the same meaning, and you get hundreds of results about how young girls are having children way before marriage because of a fatherless life, or thousands of results about young boys running away, or being homeless, or being a criminal--simply because their father had not been there.
So, Dad, this entry is specially in your honor, and also to my Grandpa, David Jester, and to my Granddad, Marvin Mann. Thank you for loving your children, and continuing to treat my parents like the real gems they are, who now in their turn love us ("us" being me and my siblings) like Christ loved us.
This entry is also in my brothers' honor, so that they will always remember that there's nothing more important than being a father. God Himself showed us this when He sacrificed His Son, Jesus, to die for us, so that we could become His children and spend eternity with Him in heaven. So this entry is in God's honor as well, because He is the ultimate Father, the ultimate caretaker, and the sole God who loves us like a Dad. It's okay to call God "Daddy", however silly it may feel, because that's what God is. He is our Daddy, and this is our day to celebrate and honor Him as well as our earthly fathers. A big round of applause to the men of today who know how to treasure their children!

Stumping the DJ and Parental Pride

It's actually kind of funny and sweet to us kids how parents are so proud of you when you complete something--or do something like stump the DJ. That DJ--I bet all the callers stumped him. Nice guy, him, and I even sometimes wondered if he googled it to find out the right answer so that he could guess wrong, and so that the kid calling could "stump" him. Despite this suspicion, I still feel proud to have done it, and like I said at the beginning of this post, it's kind of sweet when your parents are beaming because they heard their daughter was on the radio, and they're just so proud, and then you have the grandparents. I do not say any of this to brag, but to think about how sweet my parents are, and how they care about me-- they care enough to congratulate me on something as little as calling into a radio station. I'm glad I have my parents! Last night, the two little girls and I, and of course Dad (who didn't want us out all by ourselves) camped out in the backyard. It was fun! We had this candle thingy that kept away mosquitoes. Most of them, anyway--all but the one that got me on my finger. We didn't have a fire, because by the time we had gotten everything out there (Colette's own little tent set up, sleeping bags, cards, everyone's pillow, etc.), it was dark, and it's kind of hard to light a fire in the dark. Just in my opinion, anyway. And we were tired! Just ready to go to sleep. As I walked out of my own room to go outside, I looked longingly at my own bed. Well, the sleeping bag was sort of uncomfortable, and I wasn't sure where to keep my glasses, or my watch. But it somehow worked out, and Dad and I got a couple pictures. We played a game or two of cards, then realized that as it was around 10:00, it was way past bed time, and we hit the hay. Or our sleeping bags. Whichever. Dad blew out the mosquito candle thingy, and without its rather wimpy light, I took a good look at the stars through my glasses, and I felt a little bit more at peace after taking a look at them; there's something about stars that either make you gape in awe, or make you smile in wonder. I wish I'd gotten a couple pictures, but I was already half-asleep.