What role can parental involvement play in a toddler’s scholarly success? While we already know that quality time spent with infants and children contributes to their well-being and behaviour, a new study shows that fathers’ involvement can have an impact on their success at school.
Recent research carried out in Japan on 28,000 children showed an improvement in their physical and psychological development when fathers are significantly implicated in their upbringing. But it would seem that this involvement does not only impact toddlers’ well-being, it could also influence their success at school.
This is the conclusion of a recent study by researchers at the University of Leeds in England, who analysed the school assessment results of children aged five and seven, all from a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 mother-father households from the Millennium Cohort Study.
Published on the University of Leeds website, this research suggests that by taking part in interactive activities with their three-year-old children, fathers can help improve their children’s academic performance at the age of five.
The involvement of fathers from the age of five onwards is also associated with an improvement in children’s results two years later. Reading, drawing, singing and simple games are among the activities mentioned by the study’s authors.
“Mothers still tend to assume the primary carer role with children and, therefore, tend to do the most childcare; but if fathers actively engage in childcare, too, it significantly increases the likelihood of children getting better grades in primary school,” said Dr Helen Norman, research fellow at Leeds University Business School.
“This is why encouraging and supporting fathers to share childcare with the mother, from an early stage in the child’s life, is critical.”
Specifically, fathers’ involvement in this type of activity played a positive role in children’s performance and learning, regardless of gender, ethnic origin or household income. The study also indicates that mothers have more influence on the emotional and social behaviours of their youngest children than on their academic success.
In light of these findings, the researchers urge parents to participate in such activities with their offspring as much as possible, pointing out that even 10 minutes a day could be enough to bring educational benefits to schoolchildren.
