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Research shows one single factor can make a difference in whether a young person commits crimes, ends up in jail, becomes obese, has children as a teenager, graduates from high school, suffers abuse or abuses alcohol and drugs.
It's called the Father Factor.
As Father's Day approaches, we celebrate an exciting trend emerging in Hamilton County.
Chris Holsey, 13 years old, "He's a good man."
Chris, "Takes me everywhere I need to go like football practice and during school he drives me to school when I could walk."
The words on these pages reveal the hearts of more than four thousand area children...as they express "What My Father Means To Me."
Julie Baumgardner, First Things First, "What these children are saying is that you know you mean so much more to me than that. It's really about the time that we can spend together not how much money you make."
This Father's Day as First Things First celebrates the Father of the Year, the group sends a message about what matters most.
Baumgardner, "The importance of bonding with your child and the importance of spending time with your child and really being engaged in their activities from before birth all the way through."
It's one that rings true for the Holsey family.
Charles Holsey, "My kids are very important they're really the blood in my veins they really are they're my heart."
Dad Charles makes it a point to spend at least three or four hours a day with his three children.
On this day it's at Riverbend.
Charles Holsey, "It's very important I feel it's an obligation I have and I just feel like I must do it."
First Things First's Executive director Julie Baumgardner says studies show more Dads in Hamilton County are doing it.
Baumgardner, "We've been doing research now for ten years and we are seeing an increase in Father involvement".
And that she says can only lead to good things.
Baumgardner, "There's just a whole host of things that Dads do when they are present in the home that are positive for children."
Take it from the mouth of babes.
Chris, "Pretty good man." Baumgardner says families without Dads in the home can get the benefits of the Father Factor with a healthy role model.
Don't forget this Sunday June 15th is Father's Day.
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