Obama on Fatherhood
I read a great article in the Sunday paper in the Parade section. It was by President Obama on fatherhood. I thought I would share a few quotes from him.
"As an adult, working as a community organizer and later as a legislator, I would often walk through the streets of Chicago's South Side and see boys marked by that same absence (referring to his own absent father)-boys without supervision or direction or anyone to help them as they struggled to grow into men. I identified with their frustration and disengagement-with their sense of having been let down."
"I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill."
"That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."
"And that disengagement (speaking of physically present, but emotionally distant dads) sends a clear message-whether we mean it or not-about where among our priorities they fall."
"We need to realize that we are our children's first and best teachers."
"They are fulfilling their most fundamental duty as fathers: to show their children, by example, the kind of people they want them to become."
For the whole article, check out the Parade-June 21, 2009-pages 4-5.
I agree with much of what Obama had to say. He knows what being raised without a father does to a child. He also knows how busyness in our work can hurt our children too. The thing that is missing is faith development. We need to help our children learn to love God and love others. We need to seek God's help because on our own-we will fail. I am glad to hear Obama's heart in regards to the importance of fatherhood, but I take it one more step and encourage all of the dads to teach spiritual truths to their kids through informal and formal times together. Dads-our children deserve our best not our leftovers!
"As an adult, working as a community organizer and later as a legislator, I would often walk through the streets of Chicago's South Side and see boys marked by that same absence (referring to his own absent father)-boys without supervision or direction or anyone to help them as they struggled to grow into men. I identified with their frustration and disengagement-with their sense of having been let down."
"I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill."
"That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."
"And that disengagement (speaking of physically present, but emotionally distant dads) sends a clear message-whether we mean it or not-about where among our priorities they fall."
"We need to realize that we are our children's first and best teachers."
"They are fulfilling their most fundamental duty as fathers: to show their children, by example, the kind of people they want them to become."
For the whole article, check out the Parade-June 21, 2009-pages 4-5.
I agree with much of what Obama had to say. He knows what being raised without a father does to a child. He also knows how busyness in our work can hurt our children too. The thing that is missing is faith development. We need to help our children learn to love God and love others. We need to seek God's help because on our own-we will fail. I am glad to hear Obama's heart in regards to the importance of fatherhood, but I take it one more step and encourage all of the dads to teach spiritual truths to their kids through informal and formal times together. Dads-our children deserve our best not our leftovers!
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