On Being A Dad

Perhaps this is a day or so late, but still I am having lingering thoughts about Father’s Day. The task of fathering is just enormous. His entire family depends on him. It is the most stressful & strenuous task in a person’s life. Nothing even compares. The importance of being a role model in deed, words, and mindset cannot be exaggerated. Kids look to their dad to show them how to live life. Dads have the opportunity to provide living portraits of courage, self-control, forgiveness, strength, compassion and hope. Children learn the lessons of managing money, being married, changing careers and taking risks from Dad.

Fathering can be frustrating, disappointing, exciting and hilarious all in the same day. And boy, is it expensive being a dad! Every day there is something new to buy. A friend told me that the place fathers once put their money, they now put pictures.

And so I am wondering why someone didn’t tell me all of this before I had kids. Why didn’t someone say, “Kids will change your life more than anything else in the world”? I have made it an unspoken goal to pass that piece of wisdom along to every expectant mom and dad I know.

And for all of its stresses and challenges, being a dad is the most phenomenal opportunity in a man’s life to change the world. You can make a bigger difference by being a great dad than you can by being President of the United States. Sounds like hyperbole to you? Think about it for a moment. If a man has three children, he could possibly raise three different presidents. Think about the enormity of that possibility. If it happened, that single individual would affect international politics in three different decades possibly. Don’t take that lightly. Joseph Kennedy had two sons in the White House at one time. John was President & his brother, Robert, was the Attorney General. And the latter had eyes for that oval office.

And so as I watch my two teenage sons act like teenagers (why do they act like that?), I am a little unsettled to think that one day they will be holding a baby in their arms. And on the other hand, as I watch my two teenage sons occasionally show the maturity and wisdom of an adult, I am comforted in knowing that one day the world will be a better place because of the impact they will make.

It is a tough job, but I love it. Thank You God for kids.