Free haircuts facilitate father-son bonding

Beech Acres Parenting Center, which is a nonprofit that’s serviced Cincinnati families since 1849, will participate in the Fatherhood Buzz Barbershop Initiative this Saturday.

“Everyone’s discovering it’s important to have a father in your child’s lives,” says Nate Lett, program director for Beech Acres’ Building Strong Families and Relationships program.

“Statistics prove if you have two parents working together in good communication to raise a child, they’re less likely to be incarcerated, less likely to have children out of wedlock, more likely to graduate and they do better—not only economically, but health-wise—the children are a lot better off in healthy relationships.”

To help facilitate that father-son relationship, two local barbershops will offer free haircuts to any child who comes in for a haircut Saturday, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

As part of the National Fatherhood Initiative, literature will be sent out to participating barbershops so fathers can learn about things like national health and parenting techniques.

“A lot of fathers feel comfortable at barber shops —they open up, bond with other men, share their information about things in the barber shop—so that’s a very good avenue to get out information,” Lett says.

“That’s one little step to initiating that contact between a father and a son—in a barber shop with other men and their children. Men keep their barber shop appointments, and many go in to socialize, so we felt that this was a safe environment.”

Do Good:

• Take your son to Mpressions in Forest Park, or Nati Stylz in North College Hill Saturday for a free haircut.

• Support Beech Acres by donating.

• Learn about Beech Acres' programs and services.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a project manager for Charitable Words. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.