A recent study has shown a growing disinterest in fatherhood among childless men. The study collated data from three sources, finding that the amount of men who said they didn’t want children had doubled in the last two decades. While the trend is clear, the study’s author says more research is needed to find out why. 

Psychologists have proposed that there may be a new life stage after adolescence, which they call “emerging adulthood”. This time after high school, they say, is characterized by experimenting and putting off responsibility such as a settled career, taking on a mortgage, getting married, or starting families. Throw into the mix the denigration of white heterosexual men, gender confusion, fatherlessness, and the feminizing of the culture and it becomes clearer why young men feel ill-equipped or are reluctant to take on things which look daunting and difficult.

Where do we start with such a problem? Looking to the Sons of Solomon discipline is a good beginning – are you a Patriarch? Pray for those you are over. Build your family towards Paradise. Be a model for the next generation and those who need guidance, purpose and hope.. While responsibility is a hard sell in today’s therapeutic age, Rev Fisk asked in a recent post: Do you want to watch or to do? Do you want to pretend or to be? The hardest things bring the greatest reward. 

Speaking of boys and men… We found an inspiring podcast about a school for boys in Chicago. The Riverside Club for Adventure and Imagination dispenses with desks and focuses on story telling, crafts and virtue.