Dads, you are needed each and every day, but today, you are celebrated. I want to wish a very happy Father’s Day to all of the wonderful fathers out there. The work you are doing in your child’s life cannot be underestimated. In fact, the research proves it.
Dads, you are needed each and every day, but today, you are celebrated. I want to wish a very happy Father’s Day to all of the wonderful fathers out there. The work you are doing in your child’s life cannot be underestimated. In fact, the research proves it.
Children with stable, involved fathers have much higher levels of self-control, confidence, and sociability. They are less likely to engage in risky behavior as adolescents, and they are far less likely to have behavioral or psychological problems1.
Dads, you are important, valued and loved. Even when you don’t feel like it, you are making a huge impact on your child. I know this not only from the research but also from being a pediatrician for over thirty years. Again and again, I have heard children talk about their dads in my office like they are their everything. Trust me, they worship the ground you walk on.
This is why today I want to honor you by letting you in on some of those conversations I’ve had with your kids. Because you deserve to know what your child really thinks about you.
You are the center of their world.
I remember holding my father’s hands for the last time several years ago. I felt intense anxiety. It was more than grief or sadness, it was panic that something in the center of my life was about to collapse. My dad was my safety net. He was the hub at the center of our family and when he was gone I wondered, What would happen to me?
There’s a misconception that mothers are the center of a child’s world. Mothers are vitally important—I’m a mother of four myself—but too often we have the idea that fathers are optional, and mom takes center stage. But the fact is that the human family was meant to have mothers and fathers working together. Moms might bend a sympathetic ear or bandage the scraped knee, but kids look up to their dad as the one who can meet any challenge thrown at their family. He is the one whose presence makes everything right and good, and whose absence throws off the balance.
Dads you are and will always be the central figure of your child’s life. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.