The Power of Dadhood: How to Become the Father Your Child Needs
This is the introduction to my book
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
~Mother Teresa
No man is a failure who has helped a child, especially his own. The greatest single gift a man can give his children is his attention. It seems so simple but somehow it is lost in its simplicity. There is no excuse for not trying your best to be a good father. There are reasons, obstacles and hardships, but no excuses.
Most would agree that fatherhood is not as natural as motherhood. I have little doubt that a woman is more likely to pick up this book than a man, even though it is targeted for men. We want to be attentive, caring fathers for the most part, and while not difficult intellectually, parenting for men is not necessarily intuitive either. The simplest of tasks appear difficult when we have no idea where to start. For instance, swimming is not difficult but without some basic lessons, we could easily drown. We men need help with fathering before we drown not only ourselves, but our children.
Help does not come looking for us, not like it does in the workplace. If you are a lawyer, bomber pilot, carpenter, or a truck driver, you probably have had lots of training, advice, mentoring, and guidance in your field. But as a father, you may have little or none. Therefore, this book attempts a grassroots discussion by an everyday father regarding the importance and issues of being a father. My thoughts and suggestions on fatherhood may be of use to you or you may disagree. But if you have cracked open this book, you want to be a good father and that alone will make you one of the better fathers on earth. The stimulation of thought and/or discussion on the topic of being a better parent, a better father can only help us and our children. The mysteries of incompetent fathering and, subsequently, their dire consequences, must be exposed and resolved.
I learned so much from my father. I learned from him that I needed to get an education. I learned that people would judge me by my actions and react to me in accordance with my attitude. I learned the importance of reliability and trust. These things I learned from him because he demonstrated how difficult life can be without them. Unfortunately, I also saw how dependence on alcohol or drugs could steal my father’s charm and waste his intelligence. Yes, I learned quite a bit about life from my father, but what I didn’t learn was difficult to pick up on my own. Among those lessons missed early on, I include the simple skills and pleasures of standing up straight, manners, confidence, physical competition, love of reading, and being comfortable in my own skin. Yes, my Dad graduated from The School of ‘Hard Knocks’,but it is not exactly in the Ivy League of Childhood Mentoring. It’s too easy to get accepted in to and there is no standard for graduation.
'Helping Fathers to be Dads' Facebook page
Interviews for “The Power of Dadhood”
STL-TV: Public TV (Parts 1 and 2):
http://interact.stltoday.com/pr/lifestyle/PR051515094721561
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYlQyHC5QDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7c5g3e2lGA
Fox affiliate interview
KWMU (NPR affiliate) interview:
“Families Matter” Podcast interview
CBS Affiliate Interview
Independent St. Louis TV station interview
Second appearance on FOX affiliate: http://fox2now.com/2015/06/22/stlmoms-power-of-dadhood/
City Dads Group book review
The Changing Behavior Network with Dr. James Sutton: http://www.thechangingbehaviornetwork.com/2015/08/23/the-power-of-dadhood-guest-col-michael-byron-smith/
Interviewed on "Become a Fearless Father" with Klaas Oosterhaus
The Dadhood Journey Episode 98 with Dr. Jay Warren
The Power of Dadhood is published by Familius. Please visit their website.
copyright 2011 Michael Byron Smith
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