Hansard

I congratulate Gordon MacDonald on lodging a motion in recognition of the first anniversary of Dads Rock.

Dads Rock was started in Sighthill in Edinburgh in February 2012, and it offers free weekly sessions for fathers and their children that allow them to spend quality time together interacting and enjoying themselves. Despite being only a year old, the project is going from strength to strength and is continuing to gather momentum. That is evident in that a second group has been started in Edinburgh and in the plans for the project to expand into Fife.

Dads Rock was the brainchild of Thomas Lynch and David Marshall. It came about from discussions between them about how few services were available in Edinburgh for fathers and their children. The group promotes positive measures that allow fathers to create stronger bonds with their children through play and other activities. It helps them to add new dimensions to their role, especially when they are often unable to be with their children every day. Unfortunately, many fathers in Scotland miss out on spending quality time with their children, which research has shown often has a detrimental effect—to varying degrees—on a child’s development.

It is for that reason that I welcome the Dads Rock project that will, it is hoped, be up and running in Fife in May 2013. The project will be based in Dunfermline, in an area that features quite high in the Scottish index of multiple deprivation, where dads in particular can find themselves socially isolated. They face difficulty in engaging in the array of activities that are currently on offer to parents that are mainly—unintentionally—female dominated and driven. Dads are underrepresented in many family activities as agencies are often unable to cater for and adapt to the needs of fathers and their children.

Fife Gingerbread, which has been established for 25 years and supports communities and families across Fife, will, in partnership with Dads Rock, model a project that has already been established in Edinburgh. It will be funded by the Big Lottery Fund and the Carnegie Trust, and it will be part of getting it right for every child and have links to the early years strategy group, which is a multi-agency partnership.

The funding that is received from others and raised by Dads Rock itself also helps it to provide a variety of shared activities and experiences for fathers and children. Those range from visits to museums, days out, parties, playgroups, and the music academy. Music plays an important part in the organisation, which is evidenced by the playgroups’ songs at the end of their meetings, and the concluding song, “We Will Rock You” by Queen. It is also evidenced by the Dads Rock academy logo, which has the guitar at its centre.

As a father, I appreciate the importance of music in helping to bond with children. When my son was young, I played guitar to him when he was having a bath. He must have enjoyed it because as he grew older, he took up the guitar himself. At 22, he is quite accomplished on the guitar, having surpassed his father. We still spend many evenings together playing our guitars and enjoying each other’s company. Having found that out, Rhona from Fife Gingerbread has invited me to play at some of the groups, so I am looking forward to doing that.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Dads Rock, Thomas Lynch and David Marshall and the many volunteers who are involved on initiating and developing such a successful project. I hope that its success will be recognised in many other areas throughout Scotland and that, where it is needed, it will be taken on board by them. If it is, it will provide dads with greater access and chance to become more involved in the wide variety of activities and meetings that are offered by Dads Rock. Ultimately, that will help to improve the wellbeing of fathers and their children by giving them more opportunities for interaction with their peers, and it should help them to form deeper and more meaningful relationships with their children.

Dads Rock is best summed up by the acronym that is used by David Marshall and Thomas Lynch—FPR, or fun, positive, rocking.

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