Father’s Goodness

It is important for fathers to recognize how their relationship with their children affects their development as a child and as an adult. Often, fathers spend a lot of time at work and struggle to spend quality time with their children and family. Fathers should contribute to the care of their children from an early age so that they can gain confidence and develop ways of interacting with them that are unique to them. Many of the teenagers I came across, including fathers who are nonresidents, who formed a good relationship with children, reported that they valued the nurturing and emotional aspects of their relationship with their fathers. Even fathers who are far away from their families can establish close relationships with their children.

Fathers who perceive that they have a disadvantage over others because they lack skills, qualifications, and positions suppose their children might not like them if they cannot meet their needs with good education and advanced technology. Such parents work extra hours merely to earn extra money to buy gifts for their children. Some may blame their worthlessness and fall into depression; others may attribute their weakness or failure to their children or family. The result of such negative perceptions and thoughts will be conflict between father and children relationships. 

However, fathers who focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t do, accept their conditions, upgrade their skills, and work toward building positive relationships with their children and family members, believe in children’s strengths and support them in reaching their full potential.

Fathers’ relationships with their parents, particularly with their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, can act as a source of motivation, inspiration, and guidance as they raise their children. For a man, the relationship he has with his own father will greatly influence his parenting. When parents have positive relationships with their fathers, they will impart these virtues to their children. However, parents who have negative relationships with their fathers can learn what to avoid in order to have strong bonds with their kids.

What a father needs above everything else, to bond effectively and meaningfully with his child, is his goodness. In children’s eyes, a father can be a reflection of God’s care. When they experience their father’s goodness and realize that he trusts them, they feel confident. It is interesting to note that fathers in the east do not tell their children how much they love them verbally, but their acts of kindness demonstrate their love. Similar to this, children may not praise their fathers exclusively, but they follow the morals they have learned from them.  

Do you believe that, although you may be excellent at your occupation, you should devote more time to parenting since it impacts your children so profoundly? The fathers who nurture their children with love will enable them to reach their full potential. Blessed is the man who honors his parents with obedience and raises his children with affection and discipline.