For me to convey the meaning of a good father, I feel it’s necessary to first bring up some alarmingly ugly facts that should not only get your attention, but also give you a sense of what we’re up against. In other words, to tell what a good father is, I believe I must first pursue the bad direction in which our fatherly images have traveled in the past few decades.

Parent’s Purpose
People can say that alarmists have always stood up and said that things were not right with our young people and pointed to the father images and the homes in general as the culprits. While this may have been done many times for different reasons, it is extremely appropriate, at this time, to examine the impact of fathering in our youth’s culture.

Ask anyone on the street today what a good father is, and unless you’re only polling a group of people who have a similar world view on the need for strong parent figures, you may be shocked by some of the responses. The group might tell you that fathers usually try to get the sympathy of other family members, including their wives. He may go about this by playing vicitim. TV sitcoms and movies have set this as standard expectations for the father figure in recent years.

Of course, we can’t blame everything on TV. Over the years, our culture has become so liberal that strength and leadership is shunned by many and avoided by most. Very seldom do we see a person who is reflecting real, strong, positive leadership ability being elected to a public office. We can say the same fore the father image, as well. Perhaps a strong-willed, God-fearing head of the household projected in either real life or fiction would be damaging to the youth, with his domineering personality, causing children to be subservient and silenced in their true voice and expressions.

I could not disagree with this more! Leadership can only be passed along through example. Unfortunately, we have lost almost all of our examples as far as fatherly leadership is concerned, so there is no one to perpetuate this image. How is a young man to know what a real man is if he grows up with a weak father? He may see dad refusing many responsibilities and neglect his family in many other ways, only for the good mother to be left to do it all.

Christian Youth Home
By now, you’re wondering if I’m ever going to describe what I think makes up a good father. No doubt, by describing the deficiencies of a bad father, I am telling you what a good father is. He should certainly be just the opposite of a weak, poor father. I would prefer seeing a strong-willed, man of character pass his child, and in doing so, observe the child somewhat flinching in fear of the repercussions of their actions, than see the reaction of most children to their father today. Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned, but I really feel children of all ages should have a type of fearful respect for their fathers: not because he is going to harm them physically, but because they have been brought up to the point that they dread him giving them even a glance of disdain.

Protecting your child in a seductive world
The good father is involved in the lives of their children, doing the things we typically image father doing with child. That is, play ball with his son, take him fishing, have a close father daughter relationship with his girls, and all in all, be a kind and sympathetic person. He should do all these things, yes, but he must first and foremost be the family leader. He takes helm of leading the household; providing guidance and direction through the storms the family faces as the years go by.

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Family & Parenting