Fathers on a mission
Some students at Paine Elementary are getting special visitors to have breakfast with them each month: their dads.
The Paine All-Pro Dads is a newly formed group at the K-5 elementary school in Trussville. The program is part of the national nonprofit Family First and aimed specifically toward fathers, with a mission to help dads love and lead their families well. Their goal is to strengthen the relationship between fathers and children and also to benefit the families’ schools and communities.
When Paine Elementary Principal J. Tygar Evans was looking for people to head up the group, friends Michael Ryan and John Sims decided to take him up on the offer as co-leaders.
“The whole premise is getting dads more involved in their kid’s life at young age,” Ryan said. “Moms are super involved at the elementary school, but the dads aren't there as much. We usually help out with things like coaching but not as much as character development.”
The program can have positive effects such as higher test scores, enhanced creativity, increased motivation for the kids, more engaged dads and more connected families.
Former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who lost his son to suicide in 2005, is the national spokesperson for the All-Pro Dads organization. Upon his retirement in 2009, Dungy said he felt he wasn’t around enough and promised to spend more time with his family.
After having an informational meeting for the Paine chapter in December, there were 75 parents and kids present for breakfast at the first meeting in January and around 70 for the February breakfast.
The breakfast gatherings take place the first Thursday of each month and will continue through May. Ryan sends out the information out via Facebook and Twitter. During the meetings, he and Sims talk for a few minutes about the leadership or character skill the school is emphasizing. He said the response so far has been tremendous.
“The character traits we’ve done so far are commitment and gratitude,” Ryan said. “We try to relate to what is going on, so the dads know what kids are working on, then they can sit and talk until the kids have to go to class.”
Ryan, who has two children who attend Paine Elementary, is glad that he took on this role and enjoys the daily emails he gets from All-Pro Dads, as well as the relationships he is making with the other dads in the community.
“The other great thing that All-Pro Dads does is send a daily email on things like helping with marriage or helping with their parenting skills,” Ryan said. “It’s very valuable information.”
Ryan said Evans and the PTO have been supportive and helped with communicating information to the parents.
While there are 16 chapters of All-Pro Dads in Alabama, Paine Elementary is the only participating school in the Birmingham area. They plan to continue the breakfasts into next school year and may develop some service projects.
Ryan plans to serve in his role for several more years, as his daughter is in kindergarten this year. He has enjoyed leading this project and said he has been able to meet more people in the community, besides the parents he knows from his children playing sports.
“It’s not a lot of work on my part, and the feedback has all been positive,” he said. “I’m on social media every day anyway, so it’s not a problem for me to put the information out here. I have Google document I send out before the meeting for people to sign up.”
For information or to contact Ryan, visit the local chapter page at allprodadsday.com/chapters/10759.