Features:

Dads in Prison.  With New Zealand having one of the highest lock up rates in the western world, a lot of Kiwi kids end up separated from their Dads. In Part one of a two part series, Chris Corlett investigates the issues.

Sonless Fathers. Boy or girl. It's one thing we arguably have no control over.  Hugh Joughin asks fathers of daughters to see if this is an issue for Kiwi dads.

The great outdoors. Harald Breiding-Buss talks to fathers who "go bush" with their children.

Lifes important questions. The death of a father can be a defining moment in anyones life. Peter Walker reflects on being a father, and a son. 

Let's talk about sex ! Kids are going to want to know about it someday. Mark Stephenson broaches the subject.

A Womans work ?  New Zealand author Wendy Jones has collected stories from "role-reversed" parents in a new book. We take a look to see what it's all about. 

In Brief:
Boys-Only Father’s Day?

                       
Advertising in the lead-up to Fathers Day was heavily boy-focused. Father & Child found practically no flyers where a girl was depicted with dad. Notable exception: The Warehouse!

 An informal random survey by Father & Child writer Hugh Joughin at a shopping mall revealed that many a dad with girls has feelings of loss about not having a boy  (see "Sonless Fathers" article).

 So is advertising reacting to the public mood, or are fathers reacting to images all around them? We think advertisers can do better—and depicting fathers with girls as well as boys may even bring in some extra customers…….

Fatherless Girls Sexually Active Earlier.

Girls without a father living with them are at much increased risk for earlier puberty, sexual activity and pregnancy than their peers, says Canterbury University lecturer Bruce Ellis.

Using data from the Christchurch longitudinal study, Ellis found that even after adjusting for other likely social factors such as poverty, history of abuse or mental health factors, fatherlessness came through as the predominant component in predicting teenage girls’ sexual behaviours.

Most at risk are girls whose father stops living with them before the age of five. Ellis also said that the mother’s date behaviour has a big impact in predicting early sexual activity. Girls, whose mothers dates many different boyfriends after breaking up with the father, were at much higher risk than girls with only one stepfather.

His data also showed that girls living with a residential biological father reach puberty later than average, while girls living with stepfathers reach it earlier. Ellis speculates that pheromones may play a role in explaining this phenomenon.

Some dads want boys

Hugh Joughin did an informal survey of fathers who “only” have girls  (see also "Sonless Fathers" article)

“It was a Friday. A bit on the chilly side. I wanted to do it but was quite nervous. Just bowling up to complete strangers with my little bits of paper with my rather personal questions printed on them. I had more questions than were on my survey form. Would someone take offence ? Would I cop some anger ? Would I be arrested ??

I snapped out of it and found my way to Barrington shopping mall. Lots of people but not too big to care, I figured. It was mid morning by now. People were starting to flow, particularly out of Big Fresh. Four men came and went, and I was already exhausted. They didn’t fit my “demograph”.

In the end I got 20. Here’s how they felt

• 3 very strongly wanted a boy. All three had at least 3 girls already.
• Another 4 either sometimes felt they wanted a boy, or they had felt like that and got over it.
• 2 strongly preferred girls to boys, and the rest (11) said they had no feelings either way.”