Generational Curse Is Inevitable With Father Absence
As one seeks to grow their child, we seek to ensure they have all their basic needs like food and shelter. However, how you care for your child from within the womb and throughout their life as they become adults is critical for their character development.
The concept of generational curse is most often used within a spiritual or religious context. Generational curse speaks directly to negative habits or behaviours that are passed down throughout generations.
If a child is placed in a position to be without their father as they grow, they can suffer in many ways. At times, the impact it has on the child can go unnoticed and transcend from generation to generation. Generational curses are serious and requires deliberate action on the part of the father and family to dismantle.
Understanding Fatherlessness
The absence of a father can happen in homes where there is a separation from a committed relationship and where there is a divorce.
Oftentimes, at the end of relationships, fathers abandon their roles and commitment to their children. Some fathers, even before the child is born, abandoned the mission of showing up for them.
It’s essential to highlight that Fatherlessness can also occur as of a result of death, incarceration and sexual irresponsibility.
Research shows that when a home is faced with fatherlessness, a child is more likely to experience the social ills of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, emotional and mental ill-health, physical health challenges, academic decline, early engagement in sexual activity, involvement in crime and ultimately being enrolled in prison.
Common Behaviours in Fatherless Children
A child naturally enjoys the presence of their father within the home as it brings about a level of security and confidence that regulates behaviour and healthy patterns.
Statistics highlight that 1 in 4 children (18.3 million) in the United States are without a father within the home. These children are more likely to encounter behavioural problems consisting of aggression, delinquency, and violent activities.
These same studies also reveal that boys are more susceptible to fall prey to the negative implications of a fatherless household. Raising boys demands the presence of a positive male figure ‘role model’ that helps to actively guide their path throughout life.
Boys who grow up without their father are more prone also to portray unhealthy coping mechanisms.
On the other hand, girls raised without their fathers will face some of the same challenges as boys. However, some challenges tend to be more focused on low self-esteem, relationship problems, and difficulty forming healthy attachments throughout life.
The absence of a father or positive male figure in a girl's life blurs the appearance of healthy expectations and boundaries in relationships.
Girls also tend to engage in risky sexual behaviour, leading to unwanted pregnancies and poverty adding further to the cycle of generational curses.
Academic underachievement is also another issue boys and girls experience as a result of not growing up with their father. As a result of this, economic hardship in adult life is more prone to occur.
Final Thoughts
The reality and seriousness of fatherlessness goes far beyond the child in the equation. Generational curse is a cycle that often follows the child into their parenting and possibly becomes worse throughout the years if not intercepted.
The only cure for this negative pattern of fatherlessness is a positive model of parenting that involves healthy attachments. Through community support (mentorship, counselling, financial provision, etc) to children and families, the generational curse of Fatherlessness can also successfully be broken.
It is also important to note that by supporting fathers within their roles, healthier patterns and the breaking the cycle of Fatherlessness in that specific generation is much more attainable.
Leave your thoughts on this situation. We have to start talking about this.
Tom Guu