One-man show

John Howard brought his twin 5-year-olds to Deibert Park in Florence on Friday -- playtime for them, break time for him.

As single father for the past two years -- he gained full custody of James and Catie in 2005 -- two arms can only stretch so far to catch running children.

"As a single parent, you're responsible for just about everything," said the 42-year-old. He does get help from day care and family members.

"There's little time for Daddy to be sick," said Howard, but added that his employer is accommodating about his schedule.

His two children ran in all directions at the Deibert Park playground, oblivious when Howard tried to get them to sit on a bench -- pretty typical behavior for active 5-year-olds.

"Boys, I know about," said Howard, who grew up with a brother seven years younger and several cousins in his extended family. But girls?

"I learned to paint fingernails and toenails and have had tea parties," Howard said of Catie's interests.

But what happens when she gets older? Howard said he can ask his mother, sister-in-law and his "office full of women" for advice.

"Girls, I'm learning," Howard said. "I'm growing as a parent at about the same rate as she's growing as a little girl."

As the American family morphs, single-father families have grown in the last generation. In 2006, Howard was one of 2.5 million single fathers who raised their children, up from 400,000 single fathers in 1970, according to U.S. Census data.

Taking population growth into account, from 1970 to now, more than four times the number of dads changed diapers, helped with math homework and waited up late worrying -- alone.

Several studies in the 1990s addressed the trend of single fatherhood and found slight differences among single-father, single-mother and two-parent families.

"Single fathers as a rule are socioeconomically advantaged over single mothers," said Brian Powell, sociology professor at Indiana University, referring to the fact that men in general make more money than women.

Of the economic, social, cultural resources spent on raising children, Powell said single fathers spend slightly more in economic resources, whereas single mothers slightly emphasize social and cultural aspects, including time spent talking, attending PTA meetings and museum visits.

"Mothers are slightly, and this is slightly, more involved in the community than fathers," Powell said.

Research has rendered mother/father role separation potentially meaningless.

"Traditionally, we think of fathering as a role model, a bread winner, a support person, and think of mothering as nurturing and really hands on. What we've learned in the research on single fathers is that those are false dichotomies," said Barbara Risman, professor of sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago and executive officer at The Council on Contemporary Families.

"Fathering and mothering don't have to be different," she said.

A study involving surveys with single fathers, single mothers and married couples was published as part of Gender Vertigo (Yale University Press, 1998).

"There's some presumption in married couples that mothers have to provide a different kind of care than fathers," said Risman. "Fathers are perfectly capable of stepping up to the plate, so to speak, and providing hands-on nurturing for their kids."

Fathers have become more involved in child-rearing in general, said Scott Coltrane, sociology professor at University of California, Riverside.

"Men are more willing to take on the role of primary parent than anytime in recent history," wrote Coltrane via e-mail.

Howard exemplifies this patriarchal evolution.

"Traditionally, the way I grew up, the father worked and the mother stayed at home. Today, roles are changing and mothers work too. As a result, fathers have taken on more responsibility," Howard said. "People are surprised when they find out I am raising the kids, but I find people are becoming more supportive of it."

In the Shoals, part of that support comes from a new no-cost. Single-parent class, the Single Parent Auxiliary Network, that started in May at the Florence Boulevard Church of Christ.

At the May 25 kickoff, 32 single parents attended, including five or six single fathers, said Mark Willingham, one of SPAN's organizers.

Each Wednesday, single parents of both genders are invited to meet at the church for a 6 p.m. dinner, worship and various speakers who discuss legal issues, support systems and effective discipline, among other topics.

Richard McCulley, one of two single fathers who attends SPAN, moved to the Shoals from West Palm Beach, Fla., in 2003 after he got custody of his 5-year-old daughter, Angel.

"I'm trying to be the dad and the mom at the same time. She was calling me 'daddy mom' for a while," McCulley said. "It's not easy, and I know later on, as she becomes a teenager, it's going to be difficult. I am just trying to be the best I can for her."

To help single fathers like McCulley, a small industry has cropped up based on single fatherhood that includes self-help books, Web sites and national organizations.

In fact, another larger industry, Father's Day, started from a single father, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The story goes that in 1909, Sonora Dodd, of Spokane, Wash. wanted a way to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran, after she heard a Mother's Day sermon that upset her.

Thing is, Dodd's father raised her and five other children on a farm after his wife died when Dodd was 16 years old.

Spokane celebrated its first Father's Day on June 19, 1910, Smart's birth month, a holiday nationalized in 1966 and written into law in 1972.

Though single-father households are still rare, television shows, from Bonanza to Flipper, Full House to Veronica Mars, have introduced a wide audience to what it's like to be a single father, at least in a Hollywood back lot studio.

"Single dads on television, they usually are well off and have a great job or are independently wealthy," said Jim O'Kane, webmaster of TVDads.com that highlights single fathers in television and who is a single father himself.

"They don't really have to worry too much about the financial needs of their children."

So much for reality TV. No matter how unrealistic the plot may be, however, O'Kane said that single-father portrayals have shifted since the '50s.

"In earlier television shows, the role of the single dad's kids is to find an appropriate mother figure for dad to marry," O'Kane said. "I don't think that's presented as a goal on television nowadays. It's no longer a stigma to be single dad."

"I'm seeing more and more single fathers," Howard said. "It shows that fathers are willing to step up to the plate and take the responsibility."

As the trio walked down to the Deibert Park pond with Wonder Bread to feed the turtles, James ran in front and Howard told him to come back. "We stay together," Howard said, to which his son replied, "I know it."

"They realize it's an unusual situation having Daddy there all the time," Howard said of his two children. "Our family is just as good as any other family."

TimesDaily Staff Writer Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com.

Staff Writer Kenda Williams contributed to this report.