Fatherhood: Are You Truly The ‘Hero’ Your Children Would Like To Be?

    Are You The Hero?

Every child wants a heroic father, one who is trustworthy, courageous and totally devoted to his children. A true hero who will go above and beyond to ensure that the home is peaceful and the family is comfortable too.

From creation, men have been given the responsibilities to lead their families and fathers were known to protect their children from harms.

With all sincerity, can you proudly hit your chest and announce to all who wish to hear that  you are qualified to be called the ‘hero’ your children want to become? Yes,  the exemplary leader, the kind of father your kids wishes to emulate when they become men? Can your daughters also wish to have husbands like you?

It’s a fact that modern family has undermined the role of many fathers today, this may largely be due to the fact that misplaced priorities;  social and economic factors now contend with the roles of fathers in many family lives. Are your obligations in your home only limited to financial support? Perhaps you trade your presence for presents too.

Do you treat your wife like a queen?This question is vital because, if your response is a yes, then be rest assured that your children will exemplify the attitudes of royalty and they will celebrate the king in you every Father’s Day.

The truth remains that , today’s children  want a father who will be visible as well as available in every aspect  of their lives. So, note that , your involvement in parenting can go a long way in making a difference in the lives of your children. A present father is able to teach his children good values, social competence as well as step into the role of a disciplinarian when boundaries are crossed.

Your child’s tendency to want to be like you is one of the most powerful influences on his emerging character. In fact, your baby’s tremendous conscious and unconscious urge to emulate you is one of the strongest, and perhaps most often overlooked, motivators of behavior. This inherent impulse to identify with you can be a tremendous help in raising an emotionally healthy child.

Your child’s impulse to identify with you does not stop with childhood. You can continue to use it to help your child navigate successfully through adolescence and into adulthood. With teens, lessons in moderation and responsible behavior, respect for one’s own health, and an interest in ideas and other people are often best transmitted through example instead of words — particularly if they learned through example as infants. That doesn’t mean that identification will make it easy to teach your teen to act wisely or to dial down impulsiveness. Much of adolescent behavior is the result of a struggle between a teen’s desire for independence, on the one hand, and closeness to parents on the other. It turns out you are more of a role model than you may know, and it can have far reaching benefits to your child and to you as well.

Teenagers borrow their parent’s clothing, wear makeup like an adult, try out adult experiences such as drinking and sex, often because they want to identify with their parents, for good or for bad. They also search for mentors and idealized heroes that help them define their own personalities more clearly during the upheavals of adolescence. This is all part of a complicated pattern of identification and imitation. So take a deep breath, and remember, when you mess up, it’s just one more opportunity to help your child learn decision-making, how to apologise, and humility. You’ll discover that there are a lot fewer parenting mistakes, if you just make them part of the learning experience.Soyinka