Invest in Fatherhood

Audio By Carbonatix

Before my dad passed, he lived on his own for a couple of years after my mom died. Eventually, he developed dementia and needed to come and live with me and my wife. But while he was still living on his own, he was rummaging around in his barn and accidentally caught himself on a cable that caused him to fall. He was unable to get up and literally screamed for about ten minutes before a neighbor finally heard and came to his rescue.

He recovered from that fall just fine, but it was a good illustration for me as to how we, as men, can so easily get caught up in the very thing that is distracting us from fatherhood. The hobbies, the interests, and the constant chime sound on your phone that indicates yet another email from work on Saturday and Sunday. When your life is full of junk, it’s easy to get tripped up by things that are not where they belong, like communication from work when it’s your day off.

Obviously, it’s a balance. There are times when your job may require you to work extra hours outside of your normal schedule. That’s okay, but when work becomes the priority and your wife and family are secondary, that’s a problem. That can cause any good father to fall. It’s not just work that can make a man stumble; it could be sports, a car collection, hunting, or even training for a race. If you are filling up your life with so much activity that it’s preventing you from investing in the lives of your children, then it’s time to make a change. Look at your schedule and determine where you can rearrange or eliminate in order to make more room for them.

There are a lot of men who work very hard all week long and deserve a rest on the weekends, but it’s important to negotiate between much-needed rest and time with your family. Is it necessary to watch football all day on Sunday or could you trim that down to just one game? Is there a way to incorporate what you need to do around the house with your children? Kids love getting attention from their parents even when it means doing yard work or cleaning out the garage. You can build contests around chores. Give an award to whoever can pick up the most sticks in the yard. Reward the person who pulls weeds the fastest. How this looks in your home is basically only limited by your imagination!