What matters & what doesn’t? Is it “Dad’s way, or the highway?” Or, as dads, do we plant the seed in the minds of our children what we learned from Henry Ford, Sr. when he said, “If we believe we can, or believe we can’t, we’re 100% right.”
Well, for this old Dad, it’s all a matter of perspective……………
The Standard College Dictionary defines perspective as, “The relationship or relative importance of facts or matters from any special point of view.”
We may want to ask ourselves as Dads, what perspective means to us today & how can our understanding of the meaning of perspective influence our thinking about our children’s choices.
From my perspective, the best way for me to advise Tommy, Myra, Elizabeth, & Michelle to take action was always to ask their Mom to join me to discover what it was that our children really wanted to do. Then, we would provide our unconditional loving support by encouraging our children to follow the course of action that would move them toward the goal they, not we wanted them to achieve.
Every generation has to learn that the stove is hot & all eyes are always on us Dads. We may, or we may not realize that from infancy forward our children are looking to us & seeking our approval of what’s important to them.
The question is, what action can we take today that will make it clear to those dear loved ones who are temporarily in our care & on loan to us from God that it’s not, “Dad’s way or the highway.”
Tom Riles, Sr.
