Family Matters

Take the title of this piece either way; I believe strongly in both.

As I have reviewed the titles of the nearly 150 weblog entries I have written in the past 21 months or so I am surprised that I have not written specifically about fathers and families. I have always taken my role as a father very seriously and family certainly does matter. For today’s thoughts let me suggest some things pertaining to fathering that I strongly believe in.

• For a man, being a good father is a great honor and the greatest of all responsibilities. And perhaps the best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. Love at home is the best gift, the best memory, and the best inheritance a child can receive.

• There will never be a journey as important as the one that takes you home. Spend as much time as you can with your family in the knowledge that they will be the only ones that will still be yours when your career is over. The greatest work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.

• I have learned (a few times by sad experience) that all you’ve really got to do to help your children see themselves as being of great value is to praise them. Sometimes we are too critical and too impatient. They need a promoter, not a critic. Be a positive undistorted mirror for them.

• Almost anything your children get to do with you when you are in a good mood is fun for them—even if it is work. The children are always more important than the activity. If you really want to get work out of them then be with them while they are doing it and work with them.

• Give your children time to talk with you. That means, do more listening than talking whenever possible. Take the time to let them get to what is really on their mind. They set the agenda.

• Teaching doesn’t mean teaching lessons or ideas; it means teaching people.

• Save your best and friendliest behavior for home.

• Let your children know you love them. Tell them in spoken words. Tell them also in notes or letters some times. But tell them often.

Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity never faileth—especially at home.