A minute on Mommy's shoulder and all is well. We had just bought her a brand new bike. My daughter went outside and the bike was gone. Meanwhile a little boy down the street also said his bike was taken. Even in the age of cyberspace, the natural strength of fathers is required from time to time.
Fathers act as the protectors of their families.
And despite the pervasiveness of two-income families, it's fathers who can work without interruption throughout the nine months of pregnancy and the demanding years of a child's infancy to ensure that the family's basic needs are met. A child-support check does not suffice. And, one suspects, Alan Alda models do not suffice either. Single mothers are less effective parents not just because one must do the work of two, but because children need a father's influence and example. Fathers have more natural authority than mothers.