Health ministry launches father mentoring program to spread co-parenting culture

The health ministry announced Thursday it will hold a series of visiting parenting mentoring sessions to help fathers navigate childcare challenges through peer support. The "100 Dads Mentoring" program aims to normalize shared caregiving by connecting novice dads with experienced mentors.

Twenty fathers with extensive childcare experience were selected to cover play, health, education, relationships and daily life. Drawn from diverse professions including writers, mental health social workers and elementary school teachers, the mentors share vivid experiences gained while raising their own children rather than delivering theoretical lectures.

Events are scheduled for Incheon on Aug. 29, South Chungcheong Province on Sept. 5 and Ulsan on Sept. 12. Each session features two mentor fathers who will deliver talks on useful childcare information and facilitate discussions to address specific concerns raised by local participants.

A distinct feature of this year's program is the integration of family forest play experiences directly into the mentoring schedule. Activities tailored to the late summer and early autumn seasons range from making gochujang and forest play in Incheon to story forest experiences in South Chungcheong and plant ecology tours in Ulsan.

The underlying "100 Dads" group has operated since 2011 as a representative fatherhood community in Korea, primarily engaging men raising children between the ages of three and eight. Participants engage in various online and offline activities, including weekly missions with their children, to build positive experiences around co-parenting.

Kim Hyun-sook, the ministry's director for population and children policy, emphasized that creating a child-friendly environment requires more than institutional support. "A culture where parents naturally care for and raise children together in their daily lives is equally important," she said, adding that the ministry will continue supporting efforts to spread this mindset through the community.

Kim Kyung-sun, head of the Korea Association of Health Promotion, noted that while parenting worries often appear similar, solutions vary depending on the specific situation of each child and household. He expressed hope that the visiting mentoring sessions would become a space for fathers to comfortably share experiences and find practical methods they can apply in their daily routines.

Detailed schedules and regional program specifics are available through the official online communication space for the 100 Dads group.