[Solved] Typical Family statue in Birmingham, thoughts?

Hmmm it\'s certainly very strange!

You would have to think that artwork is an expression of the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of the creator. So in this case that artwork is the outward expression of the creators beliefs about families. Fair enough, there are single mothers out there, and in some cases, the father doesn\'t care about any involvement with the child. But I would suggest that is the minority. Does this woman really believe that to be what a modern family is like? No father? No role model? Is her art based on personal experience? Or just what she sees around her day to day?

Certainly it is a hurtful depiction of a family to those fathers who are denied contact with their kids, and would do anything to be able to have a normal relationship with them.

The problem with today\'s society is that everything is throw away, and to some there are a complete lack of family values. So perhaps single mum families are on the rise. But that is down to attitude and the increasing numbers of families breaking down.

I think there should be some efforts to educate people on the importance of stable families. But then when people have kids willy nilly without a stable foundation, then when things inevitably go wrong, you end up with a single parent family. That doesn\'t mean the father does not care or is not important. It just gives the misconception that the father is not visible, so is not important.

But we are important, and we do care. The importance of fathers as an equal part of the parenting unit should be something that is highlighted, rather than what currently happens, which is fathers being marginalised.

Will anything ever change though....

Simon.

Absolutely bang on Simon couldn\'t agree more, I know first hand the devastating effect having no Father in your life can have on a child as I grew up without my Dad.

I knew my Father until I was 4 when he left that was the start of my problems, he was in a similar situation as me at the moment but decided to run for the hills I remember him not turning up to see me and I\'d be lifting myself up to the letter box trying to look threw to see if he was there, It took me 30 years to get over that sense of rejection it effected my whole life and all my relationships.

I used to shut down from the age of 4 wouldn\'t walk talk get out of bed do anything I was a cabbage no doctors could find out what was wrong with me they put it down to stress and not seeing my Dad, I used to make up stories that my Dad was killed in an accident to all my school friends terrible really.

Although my Grandad took over the role I still always missed my Dad I never had anyone there to give me a whack when I was out of line I got into drugs and went a bit wild for 15 years through not having him around I was so full of anger and I vowed never to do that to my child which is why I\'m fighting so hard for mine.

To be honest that Womans statue typifies society\'s outlook on Fathers and the Court system is just as bad at the end of the day you\'ve got kids having kids these days who never had a father figure around so it just ends up a vicious circle and when a man finds out he is going to be a Dad and the mum is being a [censored] it\'s no surprise they go running when faced with no help or advice on how to see their child then going through the court system which can financially, physically and mentally ruin you then it\'s not a shock there\'s so many who do a runner.

Slim, your situation with your dad was exactly like my cousins. His dad disappeared just after he was born, and ultimately it was our grandad that took over the role of father. Sadly our grandad passed away last year. Interestingly enough after 30 years, he is back in touch with his dad, so it can happen.

As far as I know, the reason his dad left was because he could not handle having and bringing up a child. He was a father at 17 years old. I will be honest, I don\'t think many humans are fully ready to be a parent at 16 - 17 years old. Of course there is the exception, where that young person is emotionally mature beyond their years, and there are those that have very good family support that instill in them the basis of being a good parent. But then a lot are sort of left to their own devices, and cannot handle the pressures and demands of parenting at that young an age, and that of course leads to problems and in some cases relationship breakdown. It\'s no surprise really that there are so many teen mums around these days. A lot of them do a good job as parents though 🙂 But it\'s interesting to note that in the best of circumstances, where is the father?

Just because he is not in the family home doesn\'t mean his value as a parent is diminished. If he is told he cannot have contact, that does not make him any less committed as a parent. He chooses to fight or run away.

It\'s difficult enough at 34 years old to find the strength to fight the system and your ex partner for contact and to stick up for your child\'s rights to have both parents in their lives. It must be a lot tougher at 18 years old to do that. Again it\'s no surprise that a lot of young guys who want to be a part of their kids lives are frightened off and take the easy option out. I don\'t blame that, because nothing is made easy for them - financially or otherwise.

I think only a few young dads choose to fight, and that is very admirable, and shows their desire and commitment to the child. Of course that sort of spirit and value of fatherhood is not shown in the birmingham statue. So I don\'t hold anything against the guy who demonstrated and turned it into what he believed was a typical family.

It seems to me there is a conveyor belt of family breakdown that begins from a young age and just seems the norm. In the case of my ex....her mum and dad split up when she was young and she had no contact with her dad for 8 years. Her sister is single mum. Her brother is single dad. Some of her friends are single mums. So for someone like her, single parent families are just the norm and perfectly acceptable. I think the more that single parent families become prevalent, the more it is seen as normal.

Where does that leave the father???