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Fathers, Are You Assuming Your Role By Remote Control?

Fathers know your true role, you cannot play, if you are too far away. Connecting with your children carries throughout life. Photo credit: Biova Nakou/pexels.

Fathers, Are You Assuming Your Role By Remote Control?

By Yvonne Sam
Contributing Columnist

Yvonne Sam -- newFathers are the key to their children’s success in life and living. The language and personal engagement between father and child is important, as it assists in building vocabulary, confidence, self-acceptance, and encourages observation of the world and its great potential.

Mothers are not the only ones that build a bond with children, a father’s bond is just as important and significant. You cannot be a father from afar. The truth be told, you must always assume your role.

It has been proven that children learn differently from their mothers and fathers, hence it is futile comparing your children to others, even their siblings. Fathers never doubt your importance and value in your children’s life. You are a part of the creative process for life, and provide a foundation of confidence, self-awareness, self-value and motivation to move past any self-imposed limitations. Connecting with your children carries throughout life. Fathers know your true role—you cannot play, if you are too far away.

When the child reaches school age, fathers need to be there every step of the way. Teachers, administrators, and other school personnel need to know that children have two parents, even if they are not sharing the same home. Make time to read to, read with, and listen to, your children. Make reading time special. Create a storytelling trip for your children that builds language development and stronger imaginations.

Dads, make time to read to, read with, and listen to, your children. Photo credit: nappy/pexels.

Dads, make time to read to, read with, and listen to, your children. Photo credit: nappy/pexels.

Additionally, make special trips to bookstores, libraries, museums and parks. In your role as a father, how do you expect your children to lead, if to them you do not read? If you’re absent from the home, then be cool and, at least, get involved in the children’s school. Fathers also need to monitor television watching, video game playing, cell phone and other digital access.

There are so many suggestions and innuendos that will bring about confusion and doubt in girls and boys about their bodies, culture, skin care, weight and other physical attributes. Parents are the first line of knowledge that builds self-esteem, self-confidence and self-respect, and that includes you, Dad.

Always keep in mind that a father’s words can bring life and death to their children. Consequently, fathers should be careful what they say to their children and how they say it, even how they talk about their mother and other family members. Believe it or not, the voice has power, if nothing good can leave your lips, let not the kids be around to hear the slips.

Conclusively, be a parent, not a buddy. As your child grows so will you, and you must modify your parenting discipline, language, expectations. There are no “perfect” fathers. You will make mistakes. Just do your best and learn as you go. There is nothing worse than a man, who can be everything to everybody — except a father to his child.

Happy Fathers Day to all fathers, everywhere!!!

Aleuta continua — the struggle continues.
Yvonne Sam, a retired Head Nurse and Secondary School Teacher, is the Chair of the Rights and Freedom Committee at the Black Community Resource Centre. A regular columnist for over two decades with the Montreal Community Contact, her insightful and incursive articles on topics ranging from politics, human rights and immigration, to education and parenting have also appeared in the Huffington Post, Montreal Gazette, XPressbogg and Guyanese OnLine. She is also the recipient of the Governor General of Canada Caring Canadian Citizen Award.

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