Adairville School was buzzing with excitement at its 4th annual Dads and Kids Pizza Night. Dads, grandpas, stepdads, and other adult male role models brought their students out for pizza and a live animal show with Jeff Armstrong from Animal Tales.
This event, sponsored by the Family Resource Youth Service Center and Title I, encourages dads and other male role models to the students at Adairville to get involved by volunteering at school and staying actively engaged with their children.
The animal show featured many exotic animals including an African Crested Porcupine, Hog Island Boa Constrictor, a Chinchilla, and a lovable red Kangaroo named Boomerang.
This fun and educational event served as yet another reminder of the critical role that a strong male influence can play in the development of tomorrow's leaders. In a day and age in which children can be exposed so easily to negative influences, the night spearheaded the theme that a great deal of a child's success comes from those influences at home, especially when those influences carry over into the child's schooling.
To further reinforce this, research by the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that this is true even when a child’s mother is already involved in the school. A father’s involvement “exerts a distinct and independent influence” on a child’s success in school.
It was a wonderful evening where 200+ participants celebrated the unique and powerful relationships that form between children and the male role models in their lives.