Fathers must give something to their children.

The Rev. Terrence Harrison was not talking about money and other material things, but morals, ethics and values that can form the basis of their children's lives.

The coordinator of Mercer County Fathers Network said too many men are absent from their children's lives, and too many try to be buddies instead of role models.

"That's the basis for a lot of problems today," he told the participants in Man 2 Man, an all-male forum on men's issues held Saturday in Farrell. "Our young men don't have a lot to look up to."

Rev. Harrison, who said he had a closer relationship with his stepfather than his biological father, asked the men to evaluate their characters by noting what they learned from their fathers, what they learned on their own and what they want to teach their children.