I’m having so much fun with this exploration of fatherhood in preparation for Sunday’s observance of Father’s Day that I anticipate continuing even after the big day. Reflecting upon the three P’s I wrote about yesterday: procreation, providing, protecting; a critically important fourth came to mind: presence. The most natural and logical teacher of what being a father is all about is, well, one’s father. In my profession we euphemistically refer to them as absent parents, but we all know that there are many ways that a parent can absent her/himself from their child that are not as extreme as abandonment, divorce, etc. If the father is not present in the life of the child, then the child is deprived of all the benefits that presence alone can provide. I cannot claim to have been the perfect father, but I do know that every minute that I was not occupied by earning a living I was with my wife and daughters (Mary, Rachel and Rebecca may have something to say about the downside of this fact). I’m sure that it is not by coincidence that this week’s TIME has an article on The Psychology of Fatherhood, and I provide the link here to support my argument that simple parental presence may be the single most important thing in the life of a child.
PS
I keep hoping that TIME will invite me to join their staff of writers, but in the meantime I’ll just have to content myself with bringing to my readers’ attention some of the great stuff I find there. Such is the case with William Kristol’s commentary, Learning from Lincoln’s Wisdom. Anything it might have to do with the subject of fatherhood is truly remote, but it’s just an excellent essay!
No comments:
Post a Comment