Single, Stay-at-Home, and Gay Fathers’ Perspectives on their 4-12-Year-Old Children’s Outdoor Risky Play Behaviour and ‘Good’ Fathering

ABSTRACT

In this study, we address the question, ‘What are single, stay-at-home, and gay fathers’ perspectives of their 4– 12-year-old children’s outdoor risky play behaviours and how do they relate to discourses of good fathering?’ Through the use of semi-structured interviews, poststructural feminist theory, and critical discourse analysis, we identified five key discourses: Children’s play is safer now than when the participants were children; fathers need to know what each child needs for the child to be safe outdoors; fathers need to protect their children from danger; it’s good to expose children to outdoor risky play; experiencing scrapes and bruises is a part of growing up. The results both reaffirm and resist dominant discourses on good fathering. Further research on this topic is crucial, as fathers play an important role in their children’s experiences of outdoor risky play and injury.

KEYWORDS:

• Child Health
• Fatherhood
• Injury Prevention
• Family
• Qualitative Methods

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle E. E. Bauer

Michelle E. E. Bauer, MA Human Kinetics Michelle Bauer is a second year PhD student in Population Health at the University of Ottawa and Project Officer for the Canadian Public health Association Unstructured Child-Led Play Project. She completed her BA with a specialisation in psychology at Concordia University and her MA in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests involve child injury prevention in community based settings, understanding parents’ influences on child development in play contexts, and situating vulnerable populations within family and child research contexts. Her doctoral research will explore military parents’ perspectives on their children’s risky play.

Dr. Audrey R. Giles

Dr. Audrey Giles is an applied cultural anthropologist who has the pleasure of heading up a dynamic team of young researchers. Her research interests focus on Indigenous peoples living in the NWT, Nunavut, and northern Alberta. Her SSHRC-funded research examines the intersections between ethnicity, gender, and injury prevention and health promotion.