Dads, Kids, and Fitness

A Father's Guide to Family Health

By William Marsiglio

Rutgers University Press

Now more than ever, American dads act as hands-on caregivers who are devoted to keeping themselves and their families healthy. Yet, men are also disproportionately likely to neglect their own health care, diets, and exercise routines—bad habits that they risk passing on to their children.

In Dads, Kids, and Fitness, William Marsiglio challenges dads to become more health-conscious in how they live and raise their children. His conclusions are drawn not only from his revealing interviews with a diverse sample of dads and pediatric healthcare professionals, but also from his own unique personal experiences—as a teenage father who, thirty-one years later, became a later-life dad to a second son. Marsiglio’s research highlights the value of treating dads as central players in what he calls the social health matrix, which can serve both healthy children and those with special needs. He also outlines how schools, healthcare facilities, religious groups, and other organizations can help dads make a positive imprint on their families’ health, fitness, and well-being.

Anchored in compelling life stories of joy, tragedy, and resilience, Dads, Kids, and Fitness extends and deepens public conversation about health at a pivotal historical moment. Its progressive message breathes new life into discussions about fathering, manhood, and health.

In this practical, hands-on book, William Marsiglio not only tells dads why they need to improve their children's (and their own) fitness and health, but also shows them exactly how to do it.'
Armin Brott, Mr.Dad.com and author of The Expectant Father, The New Father, and Fathering Your Toddler

This engaging book is the first to focus specifically on the role that fathers can play promoting the health, fitness, and well-being of their children. Going beyond generalities, it offers inspiring and time-tested suggestions about the ways in which 'new fathers' can actively parent in every way.'
Michael E. Lamb, author of The Role of the Father in Child Development

Marsiglio observes how becoming a father affects not only the man’s health, but the health of his children. Marsiglio provides a mix of personal anecdote, objective data, and the latest research to link what fathers do with their child’s health. Dr. Craig Garfield, fathering researcher and pediatrician

Powerful and informative, Dads, Kids, and Fitness is a wellspring of insights into fathering, family dynamics, and health and fitness concerns. Readers will walk away finding slices of relevance to their own lives and relationships with their kids. Don Sabo, co-editor of Sport, Men, and the Gender Order

Marsiglio provides great perspectives and experiences to be imparted to fathers. This book opens the conversation for a broadly positive impact that fathers can have when they take their health seriously as an influential member of the family unit.' David Bell, Columbia University Medical Center

WILLIAM MARSIGLIO is a fellow in the National Council on Family Relations and a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. He is the author or coauthor of nine books, including Nurturing Dads: Social Initiatives for Contemporary Fatherhood and The Male Clock: A Futuristic Novel about a Fertility Crisis, Gender Politics, and Identity.

Preface

1 Mapping Dads’ Place in the Health Matrix

2 From Being a Boy to Becoming a Daddy

3 Routines, Rituals, and Care

4 Taking Stock and Personal Growth

5 Chronic Challenges

6 Coparenting

7 Making Proactive Dads

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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