Since it’s Father’s Day today in Australia, let me greet all the wonderful fathers out there a Happy Dad’s Day, may you continue to be pillars of strength and source of wisdom and guidance in your family.
Speaking of fathers, one of the best (if not the best) Dad that I look up to is my husband. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would be as hands-on to our kids as I am now. Parenting is hard as it is but having a partner full of wisdom with whom the kids can look up to makes it a lot easier. Here are some of the things I learned from him through our conversations throughout the years:
While watching the kids’ performance in school…
MOM: Dad, aren’t they looking for you in your office?
DAD: 10 years from now, nobody would remember that I was not in the office today, but 10 years from now my kids will never forget that I was with them cheering for them during their school presentation
Prioritize Family
Your actions will show how much you prioritize your family. It’s very easy to say that you love them and that you’re doing what you’re doing for their sake but being with them physically brings it to a different level. You’re showing them how important they are to you and that assures them that you’re always there for them and it gives them confidence in you as their parent and in themselves as well.
After a trip…
DAD: Ma, check the kids’ schedule, plan for another trip. I want to take the kids out.
MOM: But we just got back…?
DAD: Ma, the kids are growing too fast, I don’t want to miss an opportunity to spend time with them. I want to take them out as much as I could before I run out of time. They are kids for just a short while and soon they will have plans of their own.
Invest Time
Life is short and time flies fast. The kids would not be kids for a long time, before you know it they are off to adventures of their own and you’ll be left thinking where the time went and wishing that you’ve spent more time with them. Make an effort, give them your time. Nobody can take those away from them.
After the kids broke or spilled something…
DAD: It’s ok, that’s easy to fix/clean up, don’t worry about it.
MOM: Why didn’t you get mad?
DAD: We don’t want them to shut themselves whenever they do something wrong. We want them to be open to us, to seek our help whenever they are having trouble and not hide it from us or lie about them. We don’t want them to be scared when they make mistakes but rather we want them to feel secured that Daddy and Mommy’s got their back and everything will be okay.
Encourage Openness
Anger will not resolve anything. It will only make things worse. For sure the kids do not mean to break or spill stuff just to make us mad. We don’t want our kids to hide things from us, so we better control our anger, as they say it takes 5 minutes to clean up spilled milk and a lot longer to heal a broken spirit. Let us make them feel that whatever they do, whether good or bad, we will always be there for them.
In a restaurant, after all our orders have been served…
MOM TO DAD: Why aren’t you eating?
Dad: The kids might want some more, I’m waiting so I could give them mine.
Be Sensitive
Children have a lot of needs, be sure that you’re sensitive enough and always ready to provide for those needs. Sometimes it may require you to give up what you have so they could have them and most of the time it gives greater joy for a parent to see their children enjoying rather than satisfying his or her own need.
After I told our kids the conditions before they could have something…
DAD TO OUR KIDS: I will give you those not because you are good in school, nor because you did something great. I will give you those because you are my children and because Daddy loves you.
Love Unconditionally
When you do something for someone you love, you do it out of love and not because they did something deserving of that, right? Give, not because they are worthy to be given but because they are your children and you love them and that is more than enough reason, period.
One of my realizations is that if a finite human being is capable of loving his children like this, how much more does our infinite Creator loves us?
And there you have it, some of the things I learned from a wonderful father. Hope you guys enjoyed reading and maybe learned something from this post. Until my next article, thanks for visiting!