Hansard

I admit that, in swotting up on Dads Rock ahead of the debate, I had slight pangs of jealousy. I would not have minded being part of such an initiative when my children were younger. When my oldest was of pre-school age, my wife took her along to a mother and toddler group, the title of which indicated the extent to which fathers were welcome to participate. More recently—albeit 14 years ago—when my son started attending pre-school nursery, I recall feeling slightly uncomfortable when I took my turn at getting him there and prepared for the class, as there were not many other dads around. Back then, where we lived, there was nothing aimed at dads and kids or that offered the kind of organised activities for dads and their offspring that Dads Rock does.

I do not pretend to be an expert on how times might have changed generally in that regard, but a recent constituency engagement left me thinking that the answer is perhaps not as much as we would like. A few weeks ago, I attended a bookbug session at Arbroath library. The sessions are aimed at under-fives, with parents or carers invited to bring children along for songs, rhymes, puppets and movement. That was a toddlers class, admittedly, but out of the 20 or so children there, not one was accompanied by their father or even a grandfather. It is great to learn about an organisation such as Dads Rock, which exists to nurture the relationship between kids and dads—especially as the emphasis seems to be on a variety of activities. I give credit to my colleague Gordon MacDonald for securing this debate to highlight the organisation’s work.

What Dads Rock achieves is perhaps best summed up by a newspaper article, in which Filip Stephen, one of a number of Polish fathers who attends, spoke about what it provided for him and his three-year-old daughter Tessia:

“We bonded better than before. It has improved the daughter-father relationship … because I’m a working father it’s only us for a few hours.”

There are families in which the extent of the engagement between dads and their kids is very limited. In some cases, it is restricted to the children being brainwashed from a very early age into following the football team that their father supports and getting dragged along, week in, week out, for what some people might say amounts to an exercise in child cruelty. I sentenced my son to a lifetime of embarrassment and misery by raising him as an Aberdeen fan.

There is more to quality time between dads and their kids as they get older than going to the football, playing golf or going to the pictures, as the Dads Rock activity programme and the organisation’s ambitions demonstrate. I was interested to note that Dads Rock’s first outing of 2013 was to the national museum of Scotland. I have visited the museum with my kids, and we had a ball. Judging by the pics on the Dads Rock website, so did the 30 kids and 25 dads who took part. I have one question for the representatives of the organisation who are in the public gallery. Could someone explain what was behind one of the dads sporting a Red Indian chief’s headdress throughout the day? I know that the members of Dads Rock are into music but, as there was no sign of a motorcycle cop, a construction worker or a cowboy, I assume that the visit was not Village People themed.

Dads Rock appears to have had a pretty successful 2012, with 48 sessions delivered that, all told, were attended by 80 dads and 90 youngsters. The year culminated in a highly successful first ever Christmas party, which it seems even mums and grandparents were allowed to attend. The group seems to be going onwards and upwards, given that more than 150 dads are now involved and its recent first birthday celebrations were followed by the securing of charitable status. There are plans in the pipeline to expand the group not only into Fife next month but, further down the line, into the Strathclyde area.

For 2013, there will be visits to Edinburgh butterfly and insect world, the Scottish Seabird Centre and the BBC at the Edinburgh festival, but what really caught my eye was the plan to launch Dads Rock academy later this year. Gordon MacDonald referred to that. I understand that the academy will offer free weekly music tuition to kids—aged from five all the way up to 16—and their dads. That should be great fun, but I offer a word of warning to the dads. Six years or so ago, I thought that it would be a blast to join my son in learning to play electric guitar, but I quickly discovered that he had a natural aptitude that he had not inherited from me. I also discovered that teenagers lack any kind of tact or diplomacy in handling situations where they should let their parents down gently.

Once again, I congratulate Gordon MacDonald on securing the debate and I wish Dads Rock every success in its future endeavours.

17:26