If you have children, you want nothing but the
best for them. The best for them includes having the man who made those
children with you playing a part in their lives and helping in raising them. You
want him to help in providing their financial, emotional and psychological
needs. Every child needs their father. And yes, every mother knows that.
Unfortunately, not every woman can guarantee their
children that their father will always be there because well, some men are cut
out to be fathers others are just not. Yet they all get the ability to
procreate. How I wish Mother Nature could sift through the grain and separate these
chaff by tagging them so that women would know what they are getting themselves
into!
Some men know what it means to be a father – the
impact you will have on your offspring’s lives, the lessons you will instill in
them and your ability to protect them and guide them through life is what matters
more than anything else. It all boils down to being there when your children
need you. Once you are a father, your biggest and most important responsibility
is to your children.
Other men on the other hand, have no clue what it
means to be a father. They seem to think that all it takes to be a father is
make a woman pregnant. They could care less what their children eat, wear or where
they get life lessons from.
As we celebrate Father’s Day this year, my joy is
that the clueless fathers seem to be decreasing by the number and we are seeing
more men taking the fatherhood responsibility seriously. I see more men today
raising their children regardless of the relationship with the children’s
mother. I see fathers dropping their children off to school, tying their shoe
laces and even carrying their infants in their arms, diaper bags hanging from their
shoulders, to clinic appointments.
More men are changing diapers, cooking and getting
their children ready for school. I can only pray and hope that the women in
their lives are not using this very positive transition to take a back seat.
Besides my father who I waxed lyrical about during
last year's Father's Day (how a year flies!) I choose to also give accolades to
the father of my two beautiful daughters who, truth be told, knows what it
means to be a father.
A father who knows that regardless of where we are
at in our lives, the one thing that will never change is that he has two
daughters who need him. That he has a responsibility to take care of them,
school them and guide them so that they do not stray.
He is a father who teaches his daughters about
kindness and gratitude. He encourages them to take their plates to the kitchen
once they are done eating –help mummy, he says. He teaches them how to put their
room in order, even though all they get right is how to arrange their shoes in
a beeline while the bed remains a mess. When they proudly come to fetch him
from the sitting room to go and inspect their room, both holding each of his
hands, he indulges them and heads to inspect the ‘neat’ room with nothing but
praise for the two. He claps with enthusiasm and as if by prompting the girls put
their hands on their waist, swaying from side to side as he sings: “Well done
well done, try again another day, very good girls! Wonderful girls!”
He insists that they say thank you when they are
given anything and that they apologize to each other, and to others, when they
do wrong.
A man who hustles so that his daughters can have
the best. Who knows his daughters’ needs
without prompting. A man who has made it his responsibility to clip his
children’s finger nails, wipe their noses when they have a cold and who whips
up a good meal for them from time to time.
A man who never misses a chance to tell his
daughters that he loves them.
A man who knows what it means to be a father. A fantastic
father.
Happy father’s day to the father of my children and
to all the fathers who know.
