In honor of Father’s Day I thought it might be helpful to offer a few tips to us women. Here’s 6 easy ways we can help our men become the best dads they can be….
1. Tell him how much you appreciate him and what he does for your family.
2. Speak well of your him to your children.
3. Resist the temptation to discourage his efforts to help with the kids by correcting the way he dresses them, plays with them or feeds them.
4. Pray for him every day.
5. Be his teammate, not his opponent, in parenting your kids.
6. Spend time having fun as a family on a regular basis.
Dads matter. Dad’s determine how we grow up to see the world, ourselves, and others. A great dad is one of life’s best gifts.
When Children Have Great Dads….
When children have great dads they feel loved
When children have great dads they feel accepted
When children have great dads they feel protected
When children have great dads they feel secure
When children have great dads they laugh freely
When children have great dads they learn wisdom
When children have great dads they trust others
When children have great dads they learn the value of hard work
When children have great dads they believe in God
When children have great dads they are blessed, indeed.
For all of us who had great dads we pause to say “thank you”. For all of us who are married to great dads we say “our children are blessed to have you”. To all of us who missed having a great dad, we remember the ultimate Dad, our heavenly Father, who fills our gaps in every way a girl needs.
And to the two greatest dads I know—my own dad and my wonderful husband- Happy Father’s Day!
I love this post Donna. Why is it so easy to only give praise to our children when they want to “help us” set the table, unload the diswasher, decorate the cake, carry the groceries in… yikes! I am so proud, and just smile. No one puts their finger in the frosting. Then, the big kid walks by, the husband. And… of course he sticks his finger in the frosting. Then, I hear… Daaaadddd from both children, and I laugh. I don’t care that the bag was dropped and eggs crushed when the children were slowly walking the bag into the kitchen. Or, the bread, well looks like it went thru the blender. I just giggle along with our helpful children. However, Iyears ago, I was so quick to say, “You’re doing it wrong”, to my husband when he was loading the dishwasher. The look on his face when I said that, I still remember and shutter. How quickly it rolled off of my tongue. He was hurt. He was trying so hard… just like my children. He wanted praise, not a negative hurtful comment. All these years later, I don’t say a negative word when my husband loads, or unloads the dishwasher. Like this morning, he unloaded the top half of the dishwasher, and left it open. The bottom half had not been unloaded. Or, when he loaded the diswasher and made a comment that the dishwasher seemed full already even before he loaded it. That’s because you were supposed to unload the clean dishes first. Duh. Didn’t you see the cute little clean/dirty sign I have? It was switched to clean.This means unload the clean dishes first. Even the children know that. Of course I didn’t say that outloud. I just smiled. Words can hurt sometimes. Our children are always watching. Even now that they are older, they are still watching and taking it all in. Ryan knows how to treat his wife Laura of one year because he has watched how his Dad treats me, his Mother. Our daughter Jennifer knows by watching how her Daddy treats me, her Mother, that this is how she should be treated by the young men she dates. Will my husband ever get it that when our daughter calls him Daddy, instead of Dad that she wants him to doing something for her? He does get it. The other night when I can home from Primetime childcare, Jennifer was giggling up a storm. I thought, what in the world are those two doing? Chris was showing her how to use a power drill in order to put the cute little knobs she picked out to go on her newly painted dresser drawers.They both were wearing gloves and protective goggles. They were having a blast. I wanted to say, why did you have to do this in the entry hall? Why didn’t you at least put some newspaper down first? I didn’t say a word. My husband who knows me like a book, looked up at me and the first thing he said was, “we will clean the floor all up.” I think I’ll keep him.