The Oxford dictionary defines a father as a male parent; I would, however, like to expand on this definition. To me,a father is a male, with biological and/or adopted offspring (this includes step-children), who acknowledges and accepts the responsibility of being a father.
That is, he plays an active role in the caring for and nurturing of children.
Too often the pleasure of nurturing children is seen from a very limited point-of-view. Mothers are seen as the nurturers, in that mothers do the hugging, kissing, calming down of children when they're upset or crying. Fathers are seen as the providers, in that fathers go to work and bring in the money for the family to survive or thrive.
Traditionally, we have put mothers and fathers into neat little boxes.
Thankfully this is now changing. CareerBuilder.com (a job website) recently conducted a year 2005 survey of working, US fathers and found that 56% of men, aged 36-50, would prefer to be stay-at-home dads if their partner was earning enough money to support the family. The same was true of 46% of men, aged 21-35 and 31% of men, aged 51-65.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see these results, as they point to a growing number of men who want to be very present in their children's lives.
Kudos are due to those fathers who have not only contributed to their family's financial stability, but to their spiritual, psychological and emotional stability as well.
These are the fathers who have stood by their children, who have encouraged them to achieve success in various aspects of their lives; who have loved and taught them to be independent teens and young adults and have instilled discipline and a sense of responsibility in their children that result in them becoming civic-minded and wholesome human beings.
Happy Belated Father's Dads!:)
Your comments are welcome! :)
