Monday, April 26, 2010

Questions for Dads

Questions for Dads


To help facilitate our growth as husbands and fathers it helps to assess where we are now. Some questions posed by Gene Johnson and Mike Yorkey in Daddy’s Home can help.

1) What were your greatest concerns when you first learned that you were going to be a father?

2) In what ways are your style and actions as a father influenced by the personality and behavior of your own father or of another mentor?

3) What good role modeling are you offering to your children right now? What changes in role modeling would you like to achieve? (P.47)

Most of what we understand about our roles as husbands and fathers have likely come from our fathers. If our dads had good relationships with their wives and kids, then we probably received some healthy mentoring and role modeling. But if the key relationships of our dads were strained and broken, we may be carrying around some faulty views of our own about what our roles are.

Asking these basic questions can at least inform us as to how and why our perceptions have been shaped the way they are. We may then say, "Hey, my role models haven’t been that good. And if I am going to function as a husband and father the way my mentors did, I need to do some changing or my family could be in trouble."

The truth is, all of us, no matter how healthy or unhealthy our past may be, can learn and grow as a person, a Christian, a husband and a father. We can seek out other mentoring and educational opportunities for our growth and development. Two good places to look: healthy adult men in your church and good books recommended by a Christian counselor or minister.

May God bless us as we grow in the grace, mercy and ministry of God for the health of our families.

Warren Baldwin

4 comments:

Edie said...

Good words Warren. We can also look for the positive traits in our Father and learn from those as well as learn from their mistakes even if they are not Christians.

My dad was not a Christian and was divorced from my mom. Throughout my life, I watched as my mom did some terribly mean things to my dad, even long after they had been divorced. She bad-mouthed him to my sister and I a lot. But I never heard my dad say one thing against my mom, and one time he even reprimanded me for speaking badly of her.

That left a very strong impression on me as role model. As Christians we should be making strong impressions on our kids to live a life pleasing to God.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

This Ozarks chick dad was not a Christian and he could cut me down in a flash with his words. My husband is a great Christian father and grandfather. The peace and love in our home is everything I didn't have growin' up.

God bless ya'll and have a terrific Tuesday!!!

Reaching Flood Stage said...

I know my husband, and probably many Christian men these days have had to re-evaluate the fatherhood model they experienced growing up. The generation we grew up in tended to preach a very "child-centered",not necessarily God-centered model of raising children. Like everything in the world today, we have to measure ourselves against the truth of God's word and not depend on any human model.
With that said, LOVE covers a multitude of sins. A good-loving father is hard to beat!

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Warren, I just wanted to thank you for your visit and leavin' a comment. Please come visit often, the door of the Ponderosa is always open.

God bless ya and have a wonderful day!!!