‘Come on, Daddy’, Luke shouts as his wet feet climb the steps to the top deck at our local swimming quarry. Kevin is right behind him, ready and willing to jump with his son. Sunscreen on his body and a smile on his face, he hides the fact he is semi-exhausted from all the jumping and swimming and rope swinging. They jump in wide eyed and care free, their bodies hitting the water with a Daddy sized splash and a Luke sized splash. They swim to the ladder and do it all over again and again and again.
Dads Matter. With God’s good grace, my kids are blessed with a Dad who couldn’t love them more and shows them daily with his actions, his presence, and his willingness to jump off the high deck. Dads are bed time story readers, high deck jumpers, princes for their princesses, providers, yard work masters. They are the ones our kids look to for protection, for wisdom, for attention, for love. They are indispensable. So much so, that research has been coming out in bucketfuls lately to support the importance of a father figure in a child’s life.
Dads Matter
The ‘Father Effect’ refers to paternal presence. The effects of a Dad’s presence or father figure in a child’s life is much. Dads showing up and being engaged in their child’s life has numerous positive effects. An engaged father can result in: higher level success in a career, a better chance at having a strong marriage, and an improved ability at handling stress. Children who are close with their father are twice as likely as those who are not to enter college or find stable employment after high school. They are also 75% less likely to have a teen birth and 80% less likely to spend time in jail, and half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms. Dads clearly matter.
Father’s Day is Sunday!
Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 21. It doesn’t get as much hoopla as the big Moms’ Day in May, but it’s just as important. Not only am I blessed with a husband who is an incredible Daddy, I also grew up with an All In Dad who was by my side through all the sports things and dance things and pageant things. He has loved me well. And the past decade and a half I have known my father-in-law, who loves and plays hard with my kids. I have been blessed with strong, loving fathers in my life.
Let’s celebrate the men showing up day after day for us and our kids. I know sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in what they aren’t doing, but this weekend let’s focus on what they are doing. Let’s point out the things they do that go unnoticed: taking out the garbage, jumping off the high deck at the swimming hole, reading all the Star Wars names right at bedtime. Let’s notice the things they do everyday to make things run smoothly: going to work to provide for the family or staying home to take care of the family, mowing the lawn, teaching the boys the correct way to use the bathroom outside or dancing with the girls to just one more song. Let’s celebrate the little things and the big things and be grateful for their role in our families. Let’s show up for them and make them feel valued, respected, and loved.
One thing we do each year for our main man is use words to express our love and appreciation. I interview each kid and ask them a few questions about Daddy, which always results in some laughable answers. A question asked every year is: Why do you love Daddy? This question is my favorite because it reminds me how much my kids deeply love their Daddy. We write all this in his Memory Book and share with him on Father’s Day. It’s a simple tradition, but one, I believe, that will never grow old.
How will you celebrate the Dads in your life this year?