August 6, 2010

The Importance of Fathers

It’s a shame how many kids grow up without a paternal influence in their lives. I think we have forgotten the little things that father’s give to their offspring.

While driving on the highway the other day I saw a young man that had a flat tire. He was sitting on the hood of his car waiting. Maybe he didn’t have a spare or perhaps he didn’t have a tire iron but it is just as likely that he didn’t know how to change his tire.

When my sons were in high school they often got calls from friends that had a flat or other car trouble. My sons knew how to help them out because their dad had taught them basic car maintenance and repairs. Their friends didn’t have a father around to help them. They were being raised by a single mother.

Now I realize that not all men know these things and it is just as likely that the young man on the highway has a father who doesn’t know how to change a tire either. There are also the rich people who rely on repair shops for all their technical needs. Had he been driving an expensive model car that might have gone through my mind but since he was driving an older model inexpensive automobile I don’t think this was the case.

I know there are the rare few women that know how to do car repairs and have no qualms about getting under the hood of a car but I don’t know any.

Sometimes relationships don’t work out and people part ways but the kids shouldn’t be forgotten in the process.

Girls learn their first love from their dads. If they don’t have a healthy father/daughter relationship they lose out on a very important connection and many look for it in teenage boys. Unfortunately, as we all know, adolescent boys are only interested in one thing when it comes to girls. That isn’t the kind of love these girls need and most get hurt because they are too young.

Girls first learn about men from their dads, so when they get married they will be better prepared.

I understand that sometimes the clock is ticking and women want to have children before their time runs out but at the same time they need to remember the importance of a father in their children’s lives.

I haven’t seen this movie but it looks cute.