Understanding Our Fathers

Fathers can either make or break you. The physical strength they posses transcends on many levels because the support, guidance, advice and protection you receive from them, or lack there of, while growing up, often sets the tone for your adult life.

Your fathers words will forever live with you, but eventually you will have to DECIDE what rings true as you experience life for yourself.

Don’t for one minute think that men aren’t emotional. They are, but sometimes you just can’t see it because they are solution seekers and methodical by nature. That’s why the comforting thing is somewhat challenging for them at times. They would most probably give you sound advice on how to fix a problem rather than that hug you may be longing for…

Many men have unfortunately been reared to be hard and strong which results in them rarely exposing their softer side. For this reason they often have difficulty showing emotion and, or expressing themselves. CHILDREN often interpret this non-expressiveness incorrectly, coming to the conclusion that, ‘my father doesn’t love me and couldn’t care about what’s happening in my life’. Thoughts of ‘I’m not important to him’ or ‘I’m not good enough’ can be very destructive.

This handicapped inner voice is responsible for holding so many adults back from reaching their full potential or striving for greatness. Dads feel pride but don’t often say it and then as a child, you are not aware of it. Please remember that children need to hear the words, “I am proud of you”. Hopefully as we grow older, we’ll figure this out for ourselves and then as long as we had a dad present in our lives, it will count volumes.

Thank goodness for the shift in rearing our sons because everyone is in need of the same emotional support irrespective of their gender. This is definitely a step in right direction as it will result in fathers who are able to show and express the love and adoration they feel for their children more easily.

Why is there way less fuss around Father’s Day, and it’s usually a struggle to find the perfect gift, especially if you are looking for something sentimental; not socks, P.J.’s or a tie! Things which can assist us to show our dads how much we love and cherish them should be readily available. It’s so unfair especially if you consider all the single fathers out there. So they may be in the minority but that doesn’t mean that it should go unnoticed. They should in fact get extra praise, considering how much harder it is because many of the skill sets needed to rear kids doesn’t necessarily come naturally to them.

Here’s to finding ways of showing our dads just how special they are and how much they mean to us.