Single, Stay-at-Home, and Gay Fathers’ Perspectives on their 4-12-Year-Old Children’s Outdoor Risky Play Behaviour and ‘Good’ Fathering

Abstract

In this study, we address the question, ‘What are single, stay-at-home, and gay fathers’ perspectives of their 4– 12-year-old children’s outdoor risky play behaviours and how do they relate to discourses of good fathering?’ Through the use of semi-structured interviews, poststructural feminist theory, and critical discourse analysis, we identified five key discourses: Children’s play is safer now than when the participants were children; fathers need to know what each child needs for the child to be safe outdoors; fathers need to protect their children from danger; it’s good to expose children to outdoor risky play; experiencing scrapes and bruises is a part of growing up. The results both reaffirm and resist dominant discourses on good fathering. Further research on this topic is crucial, as fathers play an important role in their children’s experiences of outdoor risky play and injury.