Can women teach men about fatherhood? Oprah and Iyanla seem ...

The queen of talk Oprah Winfrey is doing her thing on OWN, and I applaud her for taking on the daunting task of not only having her own television network but being hands-on in the daily production and programming. We desperately need some enlightenment on television, and she is trying to give us a bit of that. After all, the steady diet of inane reality TV being fed to Americans may wipe out an entire generation?s intellect.

OWN?s Life Class series deals with myriad issues that affect many of us, and one that has caught my attention is Guru Iyanla Vanzant?s ?class? on fatherhood. Again, hats off to Queen O for tackling one of the deep fundamental reasons behind fractured families and broken children?children hurting because dad is an absentee parent or there physically but absent emotionally, sometimes even financially.

But I came across a fascinating article by Dr. Boyce Watkins questioning Oprah?s approach to the subject. He had this query, ?Should Oprah and Iyanla be teaching men about fatherhood??

That simple yet powerful question stayed with me, for I too had that nagging unease watching two dynamic, successful women speak to men about fatherhood. I wondered why there wasn?t a powerful man who is a father teaching this ?class.?

We women can be many things to many people and can move mountains when we have to, walk on water if necessary and juggle swords, sabers and knives with our feet if need be, but teaching a man to be a man?not sure we can master that one.

And this is not to bash Oprah or Iyanla, I think they are phenomenal at what they do, just not at being men. Can a single mother or father raise children on their own? No, and before you critics jump down my throat, here is why.

I didn?t ask whether a single mother or father can raise children without their father or mother being present, I asked whether they can do it alone, and the answer is still no. As the old African proverb goes, it takes a village, and we all need support, help and interdependence to raise healthy, well-adjusted, successful, happy children.

So if the father is not present, there are uncles, male friends, grandparents and big brother programs; there must be some positive male role models or male presence in boys? lives and the same for girls. If dad is going it alone, he needs female influences for his children.

Whenever I hear women say they do not need a man to help raise children, it makes me cringe and think what a selfish statement that is. You may not need a man, but your child does.

So Oprah may want to get some strong, positive male role models to participate this particular class on fatherhood, for try as we might, we women do not understand what it is to be male. It?s like speaking to women and girls about empowerment, life choices, self-esteem, self-confidence, growing older, menopause, being all we can be as women?only to have men towering over us to teach us how to be our best selves.

They are things that a mother will never be able to teach her son, and there are things a dad will not be able to teach his daughters.

Contrary to what some New Age thinkers teach, men and women are different. We think differently, learn differently, socialize differently, love differently, nurture differently and though comedian Steve Harvey is hilarious and made a bunch of money peddling his book and movie spin off ?Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man,? we women do not want to think like a man?well, at least this woman doesn?t. Do men want to think like us?

Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14558584-can-women-teach-men-about-fatherhood-oprah-and-iyanla-seem-to-think-so

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