Feb. 25--Palatine-based nonprofit Fathers Helping Fathers has gathered a who's who of experts for the first-ever Dad School, set to take place March 7 at the UIC Forum.
The free, all-day event will feature keynote speakers Rael Jackson, president of Real Men Charities (the group that sponsors the annual Real Men Cook festival on Father's Day) and Phillip Jackson, executive director of The Black Star Project, an organization that works to eliminate the racial achievement gap.
More than a dozen law firms are sending associates to offer free legal advice. Representatives from Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services and the Secretary of State's office are also scheduled to attend.
Sessions on CPR and first aid, infant and child care, and tending to your own emotional self-care are also on the schedule.
If I were a dad, I'd be all over this thing.
Organizer Sara Cox says the day was designed with single dads in mind, but any and all fathers are welcome to attend.
"There's that half that addresses legal issues and custody issues," Cox says. "But a lot of the information could apply to married dads as well."
Fathers Helping Fathers was founded by two dads, Aaron Del Mar and Mike Smolka, who each have primary custody of their sons.
"A lot of people struggling with custody and visitation and child support focus on things that continue the bitter battle," Cox says. "They wanted to take the approach that, yes, those issues exist. But let's stay kid-focused and talk about how we can connect with our kids and be better dads."
So many obstacles stand between kids and their fathers, married or single: inflexible employers, financial pressure to put in long hours, a culture that discourages emotional vulnerability in men.
And I say that as a divorced mom, remarried to a divorced dad, raising three kids with our two ex-spouses. I know the complications at work, and I know the emotions at stake. And that's just at my house. Other families, I realize, have dozens of challenges I can only imagine having to deal with.
A day devoted to sorting out and solving those challenges is a godsend. I hope the place is flooded with dads.
hstevens@tribpub.com
