Researchers at the University of Birmingham in Great Britain have completed a study on what constitutes meaningful fatherhood. With growing fathers' rights concerns in Great Britain (and in other countries), the study explored whether being the biological dad or being a nurturing dad was more important to fathers. The results are in: fathers find greater reward in being involved. One of the authors, John Ivie, said, "All the groups of men that we spoke to felt strongly that to be a father in a meaningful sense you have to provide more than the genetic material. Being a father meant playing a role in caring, providing and protecting a child. The men felt that this should take precedence over genetics in giving men a say in a child's life." Read a summary of the study results and let us know if you agree or disagree.

We're about midway through the summer break from school, and lots of dads are looking for more ideas to keep the kids involved in something other than video games and hanging out this summer. This list of ideas was compiled with just that thought in mind--to help dads get some direction in making summer vacation from school a time to keep learning and growing.