Father's Day

How important the role played by fathers in helping their children moulding their life?

Technologies may have changed the way we think and do things these days but a chat with a friend of mine last night and the sermon this morning have encouraged me to write this short article about fatherhood on this Father's day.

Everyone wants to be able raising healthy and happy children. Have we, fathers, revisiting our childhood?

Based on our own life experience, we of course would like building up good manners and tearing down bad ones in raising our young ones. It is therefore important to revisit our childhood because it is there where we could find our development years in assessing, judging, rejecting, accepting, etc.Those experiences have significant impact on the formation of our behavior and character as fathers.

I am sure that we all will agree that those childhood experience can be used in parenting to raise happy children.  

But why a father's childhood experience is somewhat more important in raising the children?

Unlike mothers who use their emotional feelings more than fathers in raising children, fathers by using their own childhood experience will have tendencies to be more permissive and act as coach or role model for their young ones rather than as dismissive parent and being critical.

Is 'No Dad is better than a bad Dad'?

I agree to some extent as I was myself a professional who on average have travelled overseas 3 to 4 months in a year but being critical and dismissive can cause more damage than not being around our children. Having said that, our presence and caring attitude go a long way towards the development in our children behavior and character.

Remember that our young children and especially our teenagers are seeking role models for them to follow and building their own self-esteems. However, bear in mind also that every individual child is unique.

On this Father's day, we can spend some time to go back and see ourselves in our childhood years.  This will help us in having more understanding in parenting so that together with our partners as parents we can raise our children to have better mental, physical and social well-being, the foundation of success in life.

Happy Father's Day.