Abstract This articles tackles the issue of the importance of a father for his family, particularly own children. It provides a small historical description of changes that occurred within families from the prehistoric times until the postindustrial era, whereas the second part of the article provides an attempt to examine and compare children’s and parents’ opinions on the role of the father in a contemporary family, stressing his importance. The sample research was carried out amongst pupils of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd primary school grade. The conclusions that have been drawn might come across as surprising, nonetheless, it is worth to refer to more expanded research to seek the answer to the question on father’s role from the period of childhood to the phase of becoming independent.