Foundation Father
Words are powerful. They can be used for good or for ill. Blessing or cursing. Their absence can also be felt, and fathers, in the hustle and bustle of life, sometimes forget to give our sons the vital nourishment they need. Here are things your son should hear from you often. “I love you.” You […]
The never-ending work of a father is to teach his children that their actions have consequences. They might not be immediate consequences, but they will happen. This is why we spank at very early ages: to add immediate consequences to certain actions. As they get older, we hope they have internalized this to some extent, […]
Do not listen to those who quote sixty-year-old sociological studies and ignore 2,000-year-old wisdom. The former studies have an agenda and they replicate about as well as a coin toss. Their job is not to inform nor to make you a better parent. Their job is to give you a sense of superiority while you […]
Everyone should be aware of stoicism. But be careful of drinking too deeply of the draught of this philosophy. It’s not hard to see why the popularity of the Stoics is on the rise. For a generation that has been taught that everything is meaningless, stoicism offers some direction, purpose, and much-needed discipline. It calls […]
Children must learn to be responsible for the small things before they will be responsible for the larger things. They must learn to turn something in on time for school before they show up on time for work. If they don’t learn in the small things, the real world will teach them about the larger […]
You should enjoy your children’s company. It is a father’s privilege to take joy in his children. But many don’t, because they find their children annoying. Or, they are tired of their children’s misbehaving. And guess whose fault that is? The father’s, of course. If you find your kids annoying, you haven’t spanked them consistently. […]
This is a true story. One father stood at the checkout counter with his wife and daughter. He had his card out, ready to pay, but the daughter kept whining for a stuffed animal that was close to the register. Exasperated after saying “no” several times, the wife grabbed the stuffed animal and had the […]
At a theme park, my son refused to ride a certain ride. A ride that I know he would love. While we waited in line, tears kept coming to his eyes as his anxiety grew. But he was not going to get out of it. I knew he would like it. I knew it wouldn’t […]
Being a man means doing the right thing even when you don’t feel like it. Even when you know you will suffer. And not complaining about it. This becomes an issue when problems are unexpected. If you have reserved your time for something, you treat it as your time, and any imposition upon that time […]
Children learn to speak to themselves based on how their parents speak to them. They are mimickers. Actually, we are all mimickers in some fashion, but children even more so. They will repeat what they hear. They will believe what you say. And what is “thinking,”, if not talking to yourself or having an argument […]