Mother vs Father

We started watching the movie "Argo" this evening.  In one of the earlier parts, there was a discussion between a couple of the characters where they were discussing how they have children, but the men were not really part of their lives anymore.  The children were living with their respective mothers.  The one male character said to the other that children need their mother.  Granted, this movie was set in 1979-1980, so the characters' viewpoints are likely different than they are today.  But I still found the comment to be interesting.  I would say children really need both of their parents.  Sure, physically they need their mother, especially early on in their lives.  But both parents are vital to a child's development throughout their lifetime.  This seems to be especially true for the same gender parent.  That is, boys really need their fathers, especially as role models and mentors.  It is quite a different thing to learn how to be a man when a boy can only observe his mother, than when he has the opportunity to learn it from his father.  And of course this says nothing of the importance of what their daughters learn from them.  The girls learn what it means to have a decent man in their life.  All children really learn the role of both males and females from their parents and their family unit.  All parts of the family are truly vital to this.  Children are short-changed when they do not get to experience life with their two most important role models, their mothers and their fathers.  Both roles are integral, both are extremely important.  I'm not saying that children cannot learn about these roles when there is an absence of a mother or of a father.  But how much richer is their experience when they have the benefit of both role models in their lives?  And this is not to say that a homosexual relationship cannot provide such an example for the children in their lives.  It would be just as important for their children to be able to experience how the mother/father roles are handled in such families as well.  The children gain from the integration of all the family members, and they lose when such important pieces of that family are missing.  All members should be involved for the most rewarding and fulfilling experience possible for the children involved.