Father

Father is a term that refers to either natural, biological male parents of children, the social father of a child or as a title given to priests in Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic churches, as well as in several other Christian denominations. In either usage case, the term father generally evokes thoughts of a protecting male figure that leads, teaches or cares for a person or group of people.

The most common usage of the word father applies to fathers of children, whether biological father or social fathers. Social fathers or legal fathers are those that are not the biological father of a child or children, but acts as a father in raising a child or children through providing sustenance in the way of food, shelter and guidance. Determining fatherhood by the man married to a child’s mother has been used since Roman times.

This historical method of determining fatherhood is being destablished with the recent advent of accurate scientific testing, such as DNA testing. Now that these advanced types of parentage determining tests are available, the definition of fatherhood continues to undergo drastic change. Increasingly, fatherhood is defined more in terms of the degree of contact a male role model has with a child.

Since there are many children in today’s society that have stepfathers as well as biological fathers that also play active roles in their lives, the term father is often supplemented with some indication to which degree a male figure is considered a father figure in a particular child’s life.

Among other biological father descriptors are terms like ‘surprise father’ which refers to the situation where a man does not find out about a biological chld until well after the child’s birth. ‘Posthumous father’ refers to a father that died before children were born or conceived. The terms ‘teenage father’ and ‘young father’ are often associated with teenage pregnancy and premarital sexual intercourse.

The term ‘non-parental father’ is used primarily in the United Kingdom and means an unmarried father that does not appear on the child’s birth certificate. This type of father continues to have financial and/or social responsibility, but is not required to provide legal responsibility.

A ‘sperm donor father’ is one that biologically fathered a child or children but has no obligations or responsibilities to rear the children or provide for them financially or otherwise.

Non-biological father descriptors include terms like ‘stepfather’, ‘father-in-law’, ‘adoptive father’, ‘foster father’, ‘social father’ and ‘cuckolded father’, which refers to a situation where a child is the product of the father’s adulterous relationship.

There are even terms for describing fatherhood by the level of contact a male role model has with a child. For example, a ‘weekend father’ or ‘holiday father’ is one that keeps his children with him on weekends and/or holidays. An ‘absent father’ is one that is reluctant to spend time with his child or children.

The term ‘second father’ is often applied in situations where a secondary male role model forms a bond similar in strength to that of the father-child bond. This phrase is often used when a much older sibling provides a substantial amount of support in the raising of a child.

The term ‘legally fatherless’ does not refer to whether or not a father is dead or still living, but rather the rare situation where a sperm donor rescinds his consent before fertilization and a child is born from the use of his sperm regardless of his wishes.

Aura Mirchandani is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory.