Celebrating Fathers like Scot on Father’s Day 2017

June 8, 2017

Father’s Day is a simple reminder to celebrate all of the different kinds of Dads in families across the country. Here’s to the dad who makes time to coach his daughter’s softball team. Here’s to the single Dad who juggles the responsibilities of parenting with the demands of his job. Here’s to the stay-at-home dad who manages the house so his wife can run her business or go to school. Here’s to the Grandfather who is “un-retiring” to take his grandchildren into his home.

On this Father’s Day, we want to highlight one father in particular: Scot. Scot first told his story to staff and members of Congress at a briefing sponsored by the National Prevention Science Coalition. Thanks to them, and Scot, we are able to tell it here.

Scot is a dad in Ohio where he and his wife Brenda participate in a Healthy Families America program. Their story began when their son Anthony was born two months premature. The birth was so sudden that it was Scot himself who delivered him; after Brenda went into labor and while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Scot welcomed his son into the world in the bedroom of their family home.

After the birth, Scot and and his family spent a lot of time in the hospital. While Anthony was staying in the NICU, the nurses told Scot and Brenda that their child would be developmentally behind. Wanting to do more for their son to prevent these delays, the new parents signed up for Healthy Families America while still in the hospital.

Now their family has welcomed Betsy, a home visitor, into their lives.

 

The more Anthony grew, so did the demands on Scot and Brenda’s time. Scot wanted to do the best he could for his son and to learn more about the ways to keep Anthony developmentally on track. He wanted to find lessons and information. Fortunately, he had help.

 

 

Scot is a dad who went the extra mile for his child. He knew in order to to make the best use of his time and keep Anthony developmentally on track, he would have things to learn. Scot and Brenda took what they learned from Besty and maximized it.

 

 

For Scot, his parenting style was creative and fun. He invented things like “the Man Cave” where he and Anthony would sit, listen to jazz and dance. Ideas like this helped build Anthony’s fine and gross motor skills and gave Scot more time to bond with his son.

 

This Father’s Day, we’re celebrating Scot and all of the other dads out there who go the extra mile for their children. For Scot and Brenda, home visiting programs helped them go that extra mile.

To hear Scot’s story in its entirety, watch his full testimony on our YouTube channel.