Fatherhood is something that is always motoring through the placid and not so placid places in my brain. Of course, I have a father and I am a father.
I have been entrusted with shaping my children. That scares me.
I love being a Dad.
I also work with a lot of people who have Dad's that have proven to be absent in their life. Dad's who have donated sperm for the creation of a life but who have refused to actually be a father. For every person that I work with, we have probably another 5-10 people who will never see a counselor or be inside a locked facility.
I think the problem is that we have raised multiple generations where we have told them that the most important thing in the world is how they feel. We have told the world that selfishness is a virtue.
We are wiping out entire swaths of generations because of this selfishness. I read once that children with an engaged father are almost 80% more likely to not go to jail, even when the socio-economic situation is the same.
We are desperate for men to actually be fathers. To actually guide their children. The results of absentee fathers is well documented. We have to turn this around. Being a father is hard.
Being a father requires selflessness.
Being a father requires wisdom
Being a father requires being able to say I was wong, please forgive me.
Being a father requires a lot but it also gives so much.
Being a father offers rewards that are hard to quantify.
What about you? It is truly one of the greatest things that we will do in our life. What can you do to be engaged in the life of your child(ren)? If you already engaged, how can you keep on being engaged?