Discovering Fatherhood
Reflections on everyday daddy stuff
A New Tradition
As a Youth Minister I have come to see that 95% of the issues many kids have are in one way or another related to daddy issues. Whenever I have a kid come to me about drugs, behavioral, social, spiritual, sexual and or emotional issues a majority of the time it all goes back to their relationship with their father or lack of one. The flip side to this is that whenever I have kids who are confident, happy, and generally doing well it is because they tend to have a good relationship with their father. When I counsel teens I always ask them about their relationship with their father. Typically, this is where I get many of the answers I am looking for.
I have read several articles and studies on the importance of fathers being present in the lives of their children and they all say the same thing and confirm what I experience in youth ministry. Frankly, it pisses me off. If I can be blunt.
I recognize there are countless of factors as to why fathers can be inadequate, absent, not good enough, but whatever the reasons the result is always a damaged child. Maybe not badly damaged, but definitely with issues.
I do not want my daughter to have issues because of me.
So as of yesterday I am starting a new tradition. At least once a month until my children get married, enter religious life or move really far away I am going to go out on dates with them. I’ll come up with a better name than ‘dates’ for the boys, but for now that’s what I’ll call it. I will take Claire out on a date with me. We will go out just her and I and spend some quality daddy time. We may go to the park, chase things, pray, get Chick-fil-a or all of the above. The point is to spend time with my daughter and build a relationship where she recognizes her dignity, worth and that she is loved beyond all things.
These dates right now will be simple. We will spend them hanging out and helping establish her confidence by going down slides, or walking across the playground bridge by herself. As Claire gets older the dates will be a little different, the conversation will deepen, but my hope is that she will never have the insecurities and issues that are caused by a missing, uncaring, or physically-present-yet-not-there-father.
I’m not crazy. I know my daughter will still have issues—we all do. However, whatever those issues are I pray they will not be due to something I did or didn’t do. I don’t know if there is a list out there that fathers can consult to see if they are doing things right and helping their kids to be confident, recognize their worth and dignity. I think spending quality time, showing you love them and asking forgiveness when we fail is definitely key to this.
So for now I have to come up with creative ideas for taking my 13-month-old girl on a date. I welcome any thoughts!
Discovering Fatherhood 
I just loved this post. Dates with your kids, that’s just delightful
I recently blogged about my father simply because there are so many fathers who do not understand how important they are, but also because there are so many who are concerned about getting it wrong and who are stuck in circumstances beyond their control.
As to taking a 13 month old on a date, I once took mine to a play land with those hamster tubes for kids to climb. Naturally, after about two hours she refused to come down and I had to go after her. Let me tell you, climbing those tubes is no easy task. Whenever people brag to me about being in good shape, I like to say, oh really? Have you ever climbed a hamster tube? Beware those 13 month olds. They are surprisingly agile. 🙂
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I have not seen this hamster tubes. That sounds awesome. I’ll have to check that out.