Friday, fathers and father-figures alike sat along side their elementary school-aged children at Westside Elementary School as part of Dad and Donuts Day.

Westside principal Connie Brown said the day was developed in conjunction with a shipment of new books the school received thanks to a grant from the Demopolis City Schools Foundation, the highlighting male role models in children’s lives.

Many of the fathers, grandfathers or big brothers lingered after the brief breakfast to read one of the books their children’s class.

“Children benefit from being read to,” Brown said. “It’s one of the most important steps to becoming fluent readers. And they benefit from hearing different voices.”

Brown noted that most-often, the mother figure is the driving force behind a child’s homework and schoolwork an that Dad and Donuts Day was an effort to bring the student’s father figure into the school.

“It (was) a good way to get the dad’s, granddad’s or whomever in here to meet their child’s teacher and tour the classroom, if they’ve not been able to do that so far this year,” she said. “And if they have, they got to spend a little extra one-on-one time with their children over breakfast.”