Listen up, Massachusetts dads — playing with your kids could help them do better in school.
A study led by the University of Leeds found that children do better in school if their dads engage in activities with them like reading, drawing, singing and telling stories.
Researchers studied 5,000 “mother-father households” in England and logged the test scores of 5 to 7-year-olds.
Their study used a data sample from the Millennium Cohort Study , which collected data on kids born in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2002 as they grew up.
Researchers discovered that 3-year-olds whose dads played with them had higher test scores when they turned 5.
Similarly, it found that fathers who interacted with their 5-year-olds more helped their test scores when they turned 7.
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Dads who read to their kids and play with them help them do better in school.
The study found that a dad’s involvement with their kids improved their grades in school regardless of the child’s age, gender, ethnicity or the family’s household income.
Moms who engaged with their children had more of an impact on their social development than on their grades.
Kids do better at school when dads carve out time for them.
“Mothers still tend to assume the primary carer role and therefore tend to do the most child care, but if fathers actively engage in child care, too, it significantly increases the likelihood of children getting better grades in primary school,” said Dr. Helen Norman , a research fellow at Leeds University Business School, who led the study. “This is why encouraging and supporting fathers to share child care with the mother, from an early stage in the child’s life, is critical.”
Researchers suggested that dads take as much time to engage with their kids as possible and found that even 10 minutes a day could improve a child’s educational experience.
They also recommend schools take down both parents’ contact information and involve dads in school activities whenever possible.
“Our analysis has shown that fathers have an important, direct impact on their children’s learning. We should be recognizing this and actively finding ways to support dads to play their part, rather than engaging only with mothers, or taking a gender-neutral approach,” said report co-author Dr. Jeremy Davies, head of impact and communications at the Fatherhood Institute.
A dad who spends even 10 minutes a day engaging with his kids can improve their educational experience.
Dads shouldn’t be treated as an “afterthought” in children’s development said another study author.
“This study shows that even small changes in what fathers do, and in how schools and early years settings engage with parents, can have a lasting impact on children’s learning. It’s absolutely crucial that fathers aren’t treated as an afterthought,” said co-author Andrew Gwynne, a member of the UK’s Parliament and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood.
The age of a dad could also play a part in a child’s development. One study by King’s College London found that older dads have more intelligent sons.
Another parenting study , from the University of Arizona, found that stay-at-home dads swan future female breadwinners.
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