Awesome Fathers

Yesterday I attended a birthday celebration for one of my friends who is in the ministry. What was most gratifying were the expressions of love heaped upon him by his wife & especially his children. I saw a man being celebrated by a loving wife who shares with him the pride of having successfully reared fine children. Now ladies, if you are a loving mother, I applaude you as you deserve the recognition heaped upon you by society & more! But at the same time, I must acknowledge the fact that our society has failed to adequately recognize us fathers who work hard to establish a right relationship with our families.

Being a father has an awesome responsibility. As one who has been "tried by the fire" of three sons & a daughter, I want to share with the male readers some things that fathers do which can discourage & damage children: 1) Ignore them-if you have no time for your children, this soon creates within them a deep-seated resentment & they grow up feeling unloved/unaccepted; 2) Indulge them-if you give them everything they want, you spoil them & they always end up wanting more because they are never satisfied;
3) Insult/Intimidate them-be careful not to continuously criticize them. Sarcasm, riddiculing, threatening & unfair expectations can kill a child's self-esteem quicker than anything...sometimes scarring them for life!

God wants us to be engaging & encouraging to our children...after all they are a gift from Him.

P.S. Every now & then, take each child individually & reaffirm your love for him, yet be careful never to show favoritism. Happy Parenting!