`Hit the Ground Crawling

Programme Overview

This overview is intended to help local Programme Co-ordinators (ie the people who manage the projects and the Facilitators) and Facilitators understand the core of the programme in advance of our conference call and training course.

ProgrammeHistory

Sixteen years ago, several of us sat down at the local hospital in Irvine, California to “show the ropes” to men with their first child on the way and we brought our own babies along. For three hours they smiled, slept, cried and did what babies do, and the “rookie” (new, inexperienced) fathers watched us care for them without a mother in sight. Some rookies said they had never even held a baby before, so we handed them our own. Boot Camps for New Dads (the US name for the programme) was born.
We “veterans” (that’s the language used in the USA programme model: “rookies and veterans”. We can change these terms to something suitable for the UK) talked about our experiences and offered advice, and we all got to know and trust each other. With everything said in the room staying in the room, nothing was left off the table. The rookies were relieved to find their many concerns and even fears were common among dads-to-be, such as their hormone driven mates sometimes using them as a punching bag. By the end, each man came to realize “I can do this” and went home with a new sense of confidence. They did, too, and months later returned as veterans with their own babies to orient the next group of dads-to-be.

In 1996 the programmewas replicated for the first time by a hospital in North Dakota. This prompted redevelopment and formalizing of the Curriculum which serves as the framework for the workshop. Since then, the programme has proved successful in a wide variety of communities and settings, since the “instructors” (the veterans with their babies), the rookies and the Facilitator represent the community itself. We have reached dads in low income communities with high rates of non-resident fathers, affluent fathers too busy to spend enough time with their kids, young dads, older dads, fathers from different ethnic communities. We have done this by working with and through maternity services,early years services (including Head Start, the US equivalent of Sure Start), FamilyCentres, child health clinics, Black churches, Jewish Synagogues, and U.S.armed forces bases. In 2001, Hit the Ground Crawling was offered in Spanish, still the nation’s only curriculum geared to Hispanic new fathers. Over 150,000 men have graduated to date and over 200 programmes are flourishing across the U.S.

The Workshop

Hit the Ground Crawling is a peer-led workshop targeting first-time dads late in the antenatal period. The men taking the class are led through the workshop content by a Facilitator and several “veteran dads” who bring their babies with them. The whole process is backed up by the written Facilitators Manual [CHUCK – IS THAT THE RIGHT DESCRIPTION?], which you will receive at least 2 weeks prior to the training course.

The effect of the workshop is two-fold:

(i) the soon-to-be dads get an opportunity to query other men, like themselves, about what it’s like to be a dad, and

(ii) they watch men care for babies. For many, seeing a father care for his baby for three hours without the help of his mate is eye opening on its own. They may also get a chance to hold a baby themselves.

The workshop aims to prepare men for the early stages of fatherhood with the intent of increasing confidence in their ability to care for their baby and partner, navigate changes in their lifestyle, integrate their new identity as a father, and form a lasting bond with their child. It works well with both older and younger fathers.

Seminal research on fragile new families, from the Princeton Centre for Research on Child Well Being, found that intervention/support for fathers should begin prior to the birth of their child when fathers are most responsive and open to change. Key findings include:

  • The vast majority of new fathers are committed to their child and families at birth.
  • Fatherhood programmes should be offered early - in the ante and postnatal period- when men are most receptive.
  • New fathers are well motivated and are likely to take advantage of support programmes.

There is now emerging broader evidence that engaging with family professionals can impact positively on fathers’ negative behaviour and parenting styles; increase their knowledge and understanding of child development; increase their confidence in their parenting skills; and lead to more sensitive and positive parenting and to greater involvement in infant and child care, and in interaction with children (Pfannensteil and Honig 1995; O’Brien 2004).

A growing body ofresearch also indicates that children whose fathers are a consistent, positive force in their lives do better socially, intellectually and on a broad range of other factors ranging from the economic status in childhood to peer relationships in adolescence[1]. These children are also less likely to witness the breakup of their family, or be subject to poverty, violence and abuse. It is also clear that disadvantaged children are in greater need than other children from ongoing positive relationships with their fathers(Dunn et al 2004). The children of young parents – who tend to be amongst the most disadvantaged - often benefit particularly from a positive relationship with their father. More detail on all this research, and all the references, are available at .

If new fathers connect with and experience the rewards their own child offers, they become more motivated, confident and effective in their job as fathers. Otherwise, they often lack a clear sense of what being a father is all about, and how important they are for their child. They will often tend to carry on the conduct of their own fathers, which in fragile families can mean continuing intergenerational patterns of abusive, neglectful and insensitive parenting, and abandonment. These negative patterns are much harder to turn around once they have got established. Trying to turn these men into good fathers is hard work, costly and less effective. Preventing men who are becoming fathers from going this route is both feasible and cost-effective. So this is a preventative programme, not crisis-led.

This window of opportunity surrounding the birth is also when our health and social resources, particularly doctors, midwives, childbirth educators and social care staff, have the most contact with fathers-to-be. Once their baby is born, this window begins to close and a father’s pattern of involvement, for better or worse, quickly becomes entrenched. It is crucial for the success of this programme that the staff that have this early contact with fathers-to-be are committed to supporting father-child relationships, have the active support of their own managers, and understand and are confident about their role in putting dads in touch with the programme.

What Makes it Work

Below is a sampling of the central tenets which underpin the Hit the Ground Crawling philosophy. These guiding ideas were developed through a combination of sixteen years experience working with fathers and the findings of family researchers studying fathers. More can be found on the web at . These ideas are very much in line with what Fathers Direct has found in successful projects in the UK: see the Fathers Direct website for more details.

We Respect Every New Father
We respect the desire of virtually every new father (younger and older) to be there for his child, no matter his circumstances. We believe every father should have the opportunity to do his best in the form of the support he needs to overcome the challenges he faces. Every child deserves this as well.

We Connect With Fathers When They Are Ready
We reach new fathers in the months before their child’s birth when our own experience, and now research, demonstrates these men are most interested and receptive to support, education and transformative changes inspired by fatherhood.

We Equip Them So They Can Succeed
The key to success with new fathers is to equip them with basic skills and confidence before their baby arrives. Once involved and connected, babies provide their fathers with new-found strength which they need to overcome the challenges they encounter. Without this connection, there is no reward for the sacrifices a new father makes, and their motivation falters.

We Build On Our Strength
Hit the Ground Crawling graduates serve as role models in their families and neighbourhoods and help raise the bar for all fathers. Some of them will hopefully return to be “veterans” in their turn. Our programmes also serve as a sort of “beachhead” for fatherhood support programmes in local communities,which expand over time. As we reach critical mass in a community, this process intensifies.

We Support our Facilitators Well

This programme involves change: a new way of relating to fathers. So it is challenging for the fathers, the Facilitators, and for the systems they are part of. The Facilitators need to be well-supported throughout, and their role respected and valued by colleagues and managers.

A few Issues for the ProgrammeCoordinator to Consider

  • Which soon-to-be dads do you plan to target as participants in this programme?
  • How will they be recruited into the programme?
  • What connections already exist to recruit the first round of “veteran” mentor dads? (These should be men with babies and similar demographically to the soon-to-be dads)
  • Once the programmeis running, what mechanism needs to be put in place to invite back past participants to fill the veteran role?
  • How will the “veterans” be identified?
  • Should there be a screening process for those interested in returning and sharing their advice? Is this the role of the ProgrammeCoordinator or the Facilitator?
  • Can this programmeserve as an entrance point to other services you offer? How will this work? Are they well equipped to support fathers?

[1]They are more likely to have better peer relationships, higher educational / occupational mobility relative to their parents, fewer behaviour problems, lower criminality and substance abuse, greater capacity for empathy, less traditional attitudes to earning and childcare, more satisfying adult sexual partnerships, and higher self-esteem and life-satisfaction.