Myths and Lies about Dads

Dr Linda Nielsen is a Professor of Education at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. An international authority on father-daughter relationships and shared parenting for separated parents, her work has been featured in a PBS documentary and in the media, including the BBC, NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, and Oprah.

"This pioneering work fills an important gap: For a long time we have been waiting for guidance based on verified data in order to be able to deal with parental-child relationships objectively, especially in cases of family breakdown." Jose Torres, Professor at University of Malaga"This is an extraordinary compendium of key research gathered into one place. It will be a critical resource for a wide variety of readers from college students to graduate school students to clinicians, to those involved in the courts with families." Patricia Papernow, psychologist, author, teacher, consultant, Director of Institute for Stepfamily Education"Grounded in a wide range of research and draws implications that interest a general audience on current topics. The book’s material has direct implications for public policy regarding family law, divorce, and child custody. Nielsen frames these issues in a clever and catchy manner that make the book an ideal choice for academic courses, with appeal to a much wider general audience." Richard Warshak, clinical and research psychologist and author“Nielsen argues that fathers are just as competent, devoted, and central to kids’ well-being as mothers. The author, a psychology professor at Wake Forest University, takes aim at the conventional wisdom that considers mothers the mainstays of child rearing and relegates fathers to a supporting role as breadwinners and child care assistants who can be dispensed with after a divorce. On the contrary, she asserts that dads are essential, stating that kids raised with their father in the home are healthier and better adjusted, have higher graduation rates, and are less prone to delinquency, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, depression, and anxiety. The author cites a wealth of sociological statistics and scientific studies but also probes the cultural conventions we apply to fatherhood, exploring everything from the caricature of uncommunicative, emotionally clueless husbands in pop-psychology tomes like Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus to the parade of incompetent, absentee, and deadbeat dads in movies. She writes in a lucid, down-to-earth style that’s free of academic cant and replete with tart wisdom. Dads and moms alike will find much to ponder here. A fresh, eye-opening re-examination of the father’s role in the family, full of stimulating contrarian insights.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

• 1 Fathers in America: Why we believe what isn't true—and why it matters 2 American fathers and children 3 Fathers don't matter—and the earth is flat 4 Fathers as parenting partners: Slouches on couches and other nonsense 5 Divorced dads: Dad dumped mom and worse 6 Subverting the stereotypes and mashing the myths