September 9th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

Mothers and fathers play different roles and make different contributions to a child’s upbringing, but a father’s influence upon a child’s academic success later in life is felt the most when he’s involved from the very beginning, says a University of Illinois expert in early childhood education. While a mother’s involvement in school was found to be positively related to a child’s academic achievement, a father’s involvement was found to be negatively related to later student achievement, according to Brent McBride, a professor of human development at Illinois.

When it comes to schooling, fathers are typically only summoned late in the game when the light is blinking red – “when the child is going to flunk, is going to get expelled, is getting held back or is exhibiting a behavior problem, which would account for the negative relationship,” McBride said.

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