Real Fathers
Your child or children need to know that we're all in this together. One of the biggest mistakes parents make is to give the impression that they are above and beyond any weakness or difficulty. Children need to know that what they are dealing with is normal and that there is a practical way out. They need to learn from us.
The other extreme is despair and/or carelessness. Many parents just don't care, either because they are hopeless or because they have different agendas and are occupied with other matters than raising children and dealing with their responsibilities as parents. As in the first case, children are left with no solutions to the challenges they face.
While many fathers mistakenly think that providing financial support for the family is all they are expected to do, and many mothers think that cooking for, kissing goodnight, and spoiling their kids with excess toys and gimmicks will do the job, or give them enough "space to breathe", what children really need is real and practical solutions for problems that may seem insignificant and sometimes even funny to us, but are as critical and major as facing public humiliation, torture and death to them.
Children need real fathers and mothers. In the area of mentoring and coaching, fathers play the most important role. When it comes to facing the intimidating challenges of life in the outside world, children need trustworthy role models and leaders, just as they need effective teaching and training.
Every single second counts. Every word, advice and story you share with your child leaves an irreplaceable impression. It's like clay. You mold it and shape it and you let it function for the rest of its lifetime accordingly. You shape your kids. You give them drive. You give them passion. You give them determination and purpose. To hear from their Maker and obey His instructions is a matter of life and death. If I am to shape my child the way I would like him/her to be, then I am only imposing myself on him/her and ignoring my role as a parent and taking the role of an evil and egocentric god. I cannot tell you enough about the hurt and pain of friends I have who have experienced this type of parenting. I'm sure you know a few as well. This usually happens with successful people who do not trust in God or do not associate their success with God.
On the other hand, you have the "loser" parents or parents who think they are losers and just like any other thing in their life, they are too afraid to "touch it" so that they won't "break it", because they believe that it's better to leave it be and let "nature" deal with it.
While mothers usually have a more innate drive to "take care" of their children, fathers are usually too precocious. With mothers taking the role of fathers, what you end up with is a generation of rebels, drug addicts and homosexuals running around claiming the earth as their playground.
While with children disciplined by both their parents, acting as real people, sharing their own struggles, bending their knees together with their children before God, believing God for miracles, sharing their God-given vision with their children, becoming children-like in their faith, loving unconditionally, rebuking when necessary, you end up with a generation of people who are meek and who inherit the earth from their Heavenly Father, because they obey Him wholeheartedly, because they truly love Him with all their hearts, because they were trained, they were taken care of, they were molded and shaped... they were parented by real fathers.
Not ignoring the role of mothers in the household, my aim in this article was to discuss the issue with fathers in parenting. I pray that fathers find it in their hearts to forgive their own parents and look to God for a new way of parenting. Jesus always taught to be focused on our Heavenly Father for direction and purpose. His grace is more than sufficient! May God give you all the power through His mighty Counselor, so that you may partake in the glorious work of shaping a generation in the Kingdom of God. God bless you.
