Let's Peel How Important The Role Of Fathers For Child Development, Departing From Onad Cases

Onadio Leonardo had received a stamp from patriarchal adherents for being reluctant to take children to school. (Instagram/@onadiolonardo_official)

JAKARTA Pengakuan penyanyi Onadio Leonardo yang mengatakan menjaga anak sekolah adalah tugas seorang ibu menjadi sorotan di media sosial. Onad kemudian dicap pendiri patriarchi oleh warganet.

In a broadcast with Deddy Corbuzer, Vidi Aldiano, and Beby Prisillia as Onad's wife, the former vocalist of the band Killing Me Inside tells of a little of his household life.

At that time Onad felt there was no need to take the child to school because he was tired of work, which according to him was the job of a husband to earn a living.

"He feels like he's already looking for money, 'It's not my job to say anything, you just have to," Beby said.

Hearing his wife's statement, this 34-year-old man replied, "Isn't it that if you tell your child it's the mother's job?" asked Onad which was denied by Vidi Aldiano and Deddy Corbuzer.

Onad's statement then went viral on social media. His attitude that was reluctant to take children to school was called by netizens to be one of the reasons why Indonesia was labeled the less distant country or a fatherless country.

Not only that, Onadio's lack of role as a father is also said to have something to do with the speed delay that Onad and Beby's sons had experienced.

The term "fatherless countrymarak" was discussed in recent years. A number of psychologists, child and adolescent observers, and health activists claim that Indonesia is one of the countries with minimal father roles in the family.

The absence of a father's role in the family is considered to have a number of negative impacts on children's development.

Education and children observer, Retno Listyarti, interprets the fatherless as a condition in which children lose their father figures in the process of growing development. Or, children who have fathers, but their father does not play a maximum role in the child's growth and development process because care and education are left to mothers.

Meanwhile, child psychologist Edward Elmer Smith interprets the fatherless country as a state condition where people tend not to feel the presence and involvement of father figures in children's lives, both physically and psychologically.

The issue of the absence of a father from parenting cannot be separated from the social construction of Indonesian people about gender roles between men and women. The State of the World's Father's report written by Rutgers Indonesia in 2015 states that patriarchal culture is one of the reasons for the absence of fathers in child development in Indonesia.

Regarding thisfatherless phenomenon, the psychologist for Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Diana Setiyawati also discussed this phenomenon. He said that taking care of children requires the involvement of parents, namely fathers and mothers in a balanced manner. This means that parenting is not only the responsibility of the mother, but also the father.

"However, what happens a lot is that fathers are not involved in parenting. This is a fairly common phenomenon, one of which is due to cultural influences," he explained.

Diana said that fathers have an important role in children's growth and development. Father's involvement in activities with children can be an activity that stimulates cognitive developments.

There are differences in the style of speech between father and mother, such as fathers who tend to be more directing, shorter. A more complex form of communication with parents demands higher language skills so that they can stimulate the cognitive development of children.

In addition, father's involvement in parenting will encourage more optimal development of executive functions. The executive function relates to the ability to plan, self-control, problem solving, and attention.

Some of the problems that could arise as a result of the lack of closeness of a father to a child include obstacles in the formation of gender identity and sexual roles, declining academic performance, difficulty adjusting psychosocial, low self-control, and low self-esteem.

In addition, the lack of involvement of fathers can be a risk factor for the emergence of psychopathology in children. One of them is addiction to substances or activities that cause pleasure such as addiction to gadgets, online games, narcotics, cigarettes, and other addictive substances.

"It can also lead to deviant behavior, sexual behavior and mood disorders and suicide," Diana explained.

The lack of closeness between father and son is also considered to have a correlation with speech delays or delays in speaking as experienced by Onad and Beby's son. On one occasion, the husband and wife admitted that their only son, Juan, had a delay in speaking so that they were not a grader.

In his Instagram Story upload, Beby admitted that he only realized that his son had a speech delay about 2.5 years ago, when his baby was two years old.

Prakligentle parenting, Halimah, revealed that there is a relationship between the speech delay and the role of the father in parenting, as revealed on his Instagram account, @dailyjour.

"There are so many studies and studies that state that the development of language skills in early childhood is greatly influenced by the role of a father," said Halimah in her video.

Halimah also included a number of research results to support her statement. One of them is from the FPG Child Development Institute, which was published in the journal The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The above study found that the father's presence in child care encourages and improves children's language skills.