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Helping fathers know how to be best

A free 10-week course focuses not on first-time dads, but on veteran fathers to boost their parenting skills.

By MEAGHAN FORBES
Published February 18, 2005

The Fathers Resource and Networking Center of Tampa wants to help dads be better fathers.

With a free 10-week Nurturing Dads course, the nonprofit organization promises discussion of care, discipline and lessons in co-parenting.

"It's a national curriculum," said Justin LaRosa, program coordinator. "The point of the whole course is to evaluate your fathering style, evaluate our relationship with our own father and decide what we want to bring to our own kids."

LaRosa started the center in 2001 in downtown Tampa because he wanted to bring programs aimed at fathers to the Tampa Bay area, instead of the traditional new parent programs geared toward mothers. A year later, he helped create a local Boot Camp for New Dads in conjunction with area hospitals for first-time fathers.

The Nurturing Dads program, which LaRosa started in 2001, focuses on veteran fathers. With the use of a manual developed by Family Mediator Mark Perlman, instructors select different topics for discussion each week. Fathers are given a workbook with activities to try at home based on what was discussed in class. In each following session, they are broken up into groups for feedback on their experiences.

Throughout the county, more than 400 fathers have taken the nurturing course since it started. According to LaRosa, courses with a similar curriculum have been endorsed by Project Head Start branches across the country. Fathers say the class taught them ways to discipline their children and how to be more empathetic.

"I've never spanked my son," said Bryan Thomas, a South Tampa stay-at-home father of a 2-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter. "You don't really need to if you're really focused on them and keep up on any changes that your child's going through."

The course is open to any father or father figure. One session is dedicated as a playshop, where fathers develop activities and bring their children to the class for interaction. LaRosa says it helps fathers understand the importance of playing and connecting with their children.

"It really gets you in tune with your child," Thomas said. "You realize how important it is for you to be there for the child."

Toward the end of the course, fathers write a letter to their child as a vision statement. Entitled "The Father I Choose to Be," the statement helps to gel the lessons learned during the program and serves as a constant reminder to dads of the commitment involved.

"Any successful business has a mission or vision statement," said LaRosa. "The concept has just been transferred into fatherhood."

Meaghan Forbes can be reached at 661-2439 or mforbes@sptimes.com

The Nurturing Dads program is offered from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays at Oakfield Medical Plaza. For information, call 356-1293, ext. 232.

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 10:51:04]