A local TV station is asking this and it got me thinking about it. With different generations on here, what does being a father mean to you? To me: *A father is the man who stands up for you no matter what when you are right and the man who corrects you when you are wrong. *He's the man who picks you up when you fall and puts you back on the right path when you wander. *He is the man who teaches you morality and honesty through his words and actions. *A father is the man who finds the time to play with his children even when he has other obligations. *He's the man the children know they can entrust with their every worry. *A father is the man looks out for you every step of the way for the first part of your life and then worries about whether he did a good enough job for the rest of his life. *A father is the man who smiles when he hears the word "Dad". *A father is the man no matter how old you get, will always make time to at a minimum listen to what you want to talk about and if it's a problem, he'll do what he can to help you solve it. *A father is the man who wells up with tears of joy when he gets a phone call and hears "Hey Dad, you just became a Grandpa", because it means he must have done at least something right for his children to want to have children of their own. *A father is the man who knows from the day of conception to the day of his own death, he has just dedicated himself to a life of great highs and great worries for the rest of his life. When my son was in middle school, he had to write a paper on who his favorite American hero was. When he brought it home it was a paper entitled "My Dad - My Favorite Hero". He got a "C" on the paper because it was not about a famous person. When I told him that if he had written about a famous person he would have gotten an "A", his response was something like "I don't care about famous people." After he turned 30, he filled out an on-line questionnaire. When asked about his favorite childhood memory, he wrote "Hunting and fishing with Dad". When asked about his favorite pastime now, he wrote "Hunting and fishing with Dad". His wife printed off that questionnaire and showed it to me. My daughter, was quite different from my son. She came to me for money and when she thought I'd let her do something Mom had said "No" to. After her 16th birthday she did not come to me for anything. I was no longer a viable source of guidance. When she turned 30, she opened up to me again. Other than the day her and her brother were born, it was the greatest day of my life (until my granddaughter was born).
I'm not sure it can be put into words. Any man can be a father, it takes a real man to be a dad. There are two movie quotes about being a dad that really get to me. Mel Gibson said them both ironically... Mel Gibson - The Patriot "I'm a parent. I haven't got the luxury of principles." Mel Gibson - We Were Soldiers When asked "What do you think about being a soldier and a father?" Gibson replies, "I hope that being good at the one makes me better at the other."
I think you summed it up quite well. Pretty hard for me to put it into words like that. Certainly made me become the man I knew I wanted to be and to continue each day to step it up another notch. I don't think as a father you ever feel like you have done enough, listened enough, been gentle enough, disciplined enough, loved enough. Its quite a balance to achieve isn't it?? I know this much... each day I wake up blessed with a beautiful family and I each day I attempt to be better as a father, husband, and man than I was yesterday.
