Little pitchers have big ears: Father's participation in child's life through children's eyes

Abstract

In the study, the basic qualitative research method was used to determine the children's thoughts about the father's participation in the child's life. The study includes 20 children, aged 48-60 months, selected through purposive sampling to meet specific inclusion criteria. Research data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. Inductive content analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a consequence of the research; while it has been determined that children perceive their fathers as the one who plays games, helps the mother, mends things, does the shopping, and uses media devices, it has been concluded that children play indoor-outdoor games with their father; that, during the time children spend with their father, they mainly do activities that support the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children, and that children mostly want to play with their fathers.