Over 40,000 families in 32 schools took part in Back to School with Dad for the academic year in 2021. Back to School with Dad is an initiative organised by the Centre for Fathering and DADs for Life which aims to encourage fathers to accompany their children to school on the first two days of a new school year, so as to reassure children of their interest and involvement in their academic journey.
Since 2006, the Centre for Fathering has been encouraging fathers to take time out from work in the first two days of the school year to ease their children into a new class. A Back to School with Dad card has also been designed for fathers to write a note of affirmation and encouragement, so their children can be pleasantly surprised during recess when they find it with their lunch box.
“When I send my children to school, I’ve noticed that they would always looks back at the school gate to see if I am still there before they enter the school. This made me realise that my presence reassures them that Daddy will always be there, watching their backs,” said Mr Bryan Tan, CEO, Centre for Fathering and DADs for Life. “We hope that many more schools will appreciate the importance of a father’s involvement in his child’s schooling journey and pledge their support towards the Back to School with Dad initiative.”
Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development, Ms Sun Xueling, said, “All parents play crucial roles in raising their children and enabling them in their schooling journey. Typically, we tend to see mothers being more involved in this process. But fathers are important too, and should partner their spouses more concretely in this endeavour. Back to School with Dad is therefore an excellent initiative, and I encourage all our schools to embrace it to encourage father-child bonding. While the initiative focuses on the first two days of the school year, I hope this serves as a catalyst for more sustained efforts. We hope to see all fathers making more time to send their children to school and to write notes of encouragement to them on a regular basis.”
The dates for Back to School with Dad in 2021 were 4 and 5 January 2021. For more information about Back to School with Dad, go to fathers.com.sg/back-to-school-with-dad.
