"The war on boys: Young men losing ground in education, emotional health and jobs"

Men are essential to the development of healthy boys. A lack of male role models, mentors and fathers is devastating to child development. But more than 24 million children — 1 in 3 — live in homes without fathers. And almost 40 percent of American children are now born out of wedlock, according to National Vital Statistics Reports. That nearly always means little or no father involvement.

Dad is important for a lot of reasons. The proposal sent to President Obama notes that infants whose dad lived at home were as much as six months ahead in personal and social development. Premature babies go home sooner when dad visits the hospital regularly. Time with dad more than anything else predicts empathy in adulthood. His involvement reduces the likelihood that a child will need ADHD medication or professional help for behavioral or emotional problems or depression. His presence improves school performance; his absence increases the likelihood a child will drop out. Most gang members come from homes without dads. No dad around increases the likelihood of criminal activity and dad is the single-biggest factor in preventing drug abuse.

"Dads tend to encourage children to solve problems on their own. A new longitudinal study of children from infancy to age 3 discovers that this approach increases children's ability to focus, be attentive and achieve goals. It also helps with impulse control and memory and enhances a child's ability to respond effectively to new or ambiguous situations, for boys and girls," says Farrell.

He would enforce hard rules to govern what happens to children when their parents' marriage or relationship founders. Unless there's abuse or molestation, children should always be involved with both parents. No moving away to start over if it means depriving kids of their father. Start over where you are."

The report is careful to note that "None of this implies that men are better as dads than women are as moms." Both are essential.

Just visiting doesn't have the same beneficial impact on kids. Dads have to be a real, regular, interactive factor in their children's lives.

You'll kindly recall that only marriage between a man and a woman guarantees children daily interaction with their father (whether biological or adoptive), as well as a daily model as to how responsible men and women interact as husband and wife. SSM creates a government-endorsed fatherlessness or motherlessness in situations where adults are raising children. SSM sends a strong message to children that the opposite-sexed parent is superfluous, and that as future adults, that boy or girl will be superfluous as well in the lives of their own children. Is this really what we want? Now, I fully recognize that there are many outstanding single parents who are raising really good kids. They are to be commended for living up to their parenting responsibilities to their own children. Some of these single parents are actually part of a "same-sex" relationship, raising children. These include many a grandmother helping a grown daughter raise a child. While we don't consider their relationship a marriage, we applaud their valiant efforts to parent in the absence of the father. But to endorse fatherlessness by redefining marriage to that of a neutered public institution? No, that is unacceptable to the fair-minded. Will we put adult wants ahead of children's needs?

Part 2 here.