Ragland noted that while his own father had faults, being absent wasn’t among them. In fact, he said while his father shot hoops with he and his brothers, played baseball with the entire family and took the children for ice cream treats on Fridays, he didn’t think his father had done anything exceptional.
“In part, because I saw other fathers engaging their kids the same way.”
The CDC’s report further revealed that nearly half of Black fathers living apart from their young children said they played with them at least several times a week, 42 percent said they fed or dined with them that frequently, and 41 percent said they bathed, diapered or helped dress them as often – rates on par with or higher than those of other men living apart from their children.