Only 6% of Dominican fathers get involved in raising their children

Santo Domingo.- Good nutrition, protection, stimulation and affection by the father and the mother are crucial for the learning and the mental and physical health of the children during their first 1,000 days of life, said UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) local representative Rosa Elcarte.

The involvement of parents, especially the father, in activities as simple as feeding and playing with children, lay the foundations for the development of healthy self-esteem, a better acquisition of social skills and greater capacity to adapt and be more productive, as research shows in the field of neuroscience, said the Unicef official.

Unfortunately, only 6.4% of the country’s 3 and 4-year-old children have interacted with their biological father in activities such as reading, storytelling, singing, walking, playing or drawing, which promote a good development of childhood, according to Data from the Survey on MICS of the year 2014.

The Unicef representative reiterated the need for the father’s involvement in the raising of children during early childhood.