Fathers in Children's Poems

동시를 통해 아동이 묘사한 아버지의 모습

The purpose of this study was to understand children's viewpoints on their fathers from a phenomenological perspective. Sixty nine elementary school children (2nd and 5th grade) were asked to write poems about their fathers. Through the poems, they described their feelings towards their fathers in their own words. Results indicated that the most prominent and popular description for the father was in terms of the provider of the family. Because of the excessive emphasis on the provider role, fathers are very busy and tired, and can not Participate actively in their children's daily life. As a result, many fathers are in an on-looker position in their homes, and their children are spoiled. On the other hand, children described their fathers as warm, kind- hearted, respectable and great images that gave everything to their children. They liked and sincerely appreciated these aspects of their fathers. Because of the gap between the ideal image of the father and the actual provider image of the father, children experience conflict and a psychological deficit of a father. We believe that this problem will be improved through the fathers' own awareness of their role which pays more attention to our children's wellbeing and a reform of the existing social system.