‘Learning her culture and growing up strong’: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander fathers, children and the sharing of culture

Abstract

<jats:p> Indigenous fathers play a central role in the lives of Indigenous children growing up strong. For Australia’s Indigenous people, growing strong includes the possessing heightened levels of health, education and cultural knowledge. This article focuses on Indigenous fathers and how they understand the importance of sharing cultural activities with their children. We argue that the sharing of Indigenous cultural practices, and the subsequent telling of this narrative, are key enablers for Indigenous fathers to assist their families to flourish. We analyse qualitative data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children to explore what components/aspects of Indigenous culture fathers perceive will assist children to strongly mature, how culture is transmitted, and what barriers fathers face in this process. Results show that according to participants, learning about culture, family and identity are components to helping children prosper, with collecting food the most common activity used to achieve this end. </jats:p>

Relationship of Aboriginal family wellbeing to social and cultural determinants, Central Australia: ‘Waltja tjutangku nyakunytjaku’

“…High family functioning was associated with cultural factors such as knowing and speaking your Aboriginal language, higher community cohesion, high cultural practice and higher individual agency. Consistent with prior evidence, the findings indicate that culture and family are recognised strengths of Aboriginal communities5 34–38 contrary to the deficit framing of family in the media. These results in part are driven by a very unique ‘social structure of Indigenous communities’ and systems of connectedness and kinship which define relations between individuals, families and communities 5.…”

The Childhood Resilience Study: Resilience and emotional and behavioural wellbeing experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls aged 5–9 years

“…This can include children spending time in more than one household, high levels of interaction with extended family and time spent with elders/community leaders. Parents may share direct care of their child over a period of time for voluntary (spending time with extended family) or involuntary reasons (including ongoing impacts of colonisation, the stolen generations, discrimination, structural disadvantage, and inequity) [ 14 , 28 ]. The high scores for children in the family domain are likely to reflect these more collective values and kinship structures [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…The high scores for children in the family domain are likely to reflect these more collective values and kinship structures [ 29 , 30 ]. A key role for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family members is to foster children’s learning about their identity and culture [ 28 , 30 , 31 ]. Parents report that learning about culture supports their child’s development in terms of cultural practice and behaviour, family and community connections and their self-identify [ 28 , 30 , 32 ].…”

Yarning together: toward targeted, co‐designed parenting programs for Aboriginal Australians

“…Participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers, including fathers, in culturally appropriate parenting programs is a fundamental right 1 . Macdonald and colleagues sought to explore their participation in trials of such programs in the scoping review published in this issue of the MJA 2 .…”