Five More Reasons Being a Dad is Awesome
Back on November 16, 2018, I wrote my first installment of what I had hoped would become an ongoing series. While I have written often about being a father, I never revisited this particular angle. I won’t bore you with apologies or excuses. Instead, I think it would be best if we just ignored my failure and jumped right into this new article. Cool?
Being a dad to my boys in 2018 was a very different thing than being a dad to my boys in 2024. To start, two of those boys are adults now. One of them is getting married in about a month. The other is finishing his freshman year in college. My youngest was 9 years old when I wrote my first entry in this series. He is now almost 15 years old. Things have changed dramatically for our family in the intervening years, which has necessitated some parental changes and adjustments. What hasn’t changed is how much I love being a dad. Being a dad is still super awesome so here are five more reasons why this remains true.
Being a dad has allowed me to share my favorite things.
Narnia, Middle Earth, a galaxy far, far away…these are a few of my favorite things. From the very beginning of our marriage, my wife and I knew that we wanted to have children. My wife wanted them because she has always loved children and her maternal instincts wanted to birth and nurture her own. I wanted kids so that I could introduce them to all my favorite things! So, basically the same motivation for having children.
Knowing how much influence I have had on the three wonderful boys God blessed us with is a bit overwhelming. I hope and pray that I have used my powers well and that I have taught my boys to be discerning and wise in the things they consume. Being a dad has allowed me to relive my favorite stories. It has given me the opportunity to see the journey of Frodo and Sam through a new set of eyes. I have experienced the death and resurrection of Aslan for what seems like the first time. My love for the Tennessee Titans has grown exponentially as I get to share it with my boys.
I have tried hard to not manipulate my children or force them to like the things I like. For proof of this, feel free to ask me about my youngest son’s love of sports or my middle son’s love of Star Wars. While they love many of my favorite things, they have developed their own interests and passions, and I think that is awesome.
Being a dad has helped me love new things.
I’ve touched on this a few times in the past, but I think it bears repeating. Being a dad has made me a fan of so many things I probably would have never thought twice about. Nashville Predators hockey. TV shows like “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. Goofy “Phineas and Ferb” songs. You get the point.
Being a dad has exposed me to so many new experiences. Their passions don’t always become my passions, but more often than not, there is some overlap. I find great joy in knowing that we can share these things we love with one another.
Being a dad keeps me humble.
If you ever want to feel like a failure, become a dad. I don’t mean to discourage anyone from having children, but when you are a dad, you are going to mess up a lot. You will have days when nothing seems to go right and every decision you make is the wrong one. We’ve all been there.
I think those days are important because they keep me grounded. Sometimes, I will compare my kids with other children their age, and I get a little full of myself. As if I’m some sort of Super Dad. Those days of failure are the perfect dosage of humility I desperately need.
It’s okay to mess up. Being a dad means you will get plenty of opportunities to make up for those bad days. Take advantage of that. God’s mercies are new every morning, and those mercies apply especially to parents. Allow the failures to keep you humble but don’t dwell on them. Do not let these failures define you.
Being a dad makes me the good kind of proud.
There is a flip side to staying humble. Being a dad means you will have ample opportunities to celebrate your children and their accomplishments. I am deeply proud of my boys. At every stage of their lives, they have given me reasons to be proud. Whether it was academic, athletic, or more importantly, their character.
I have lost track of how many times someone has come up to me and praised my boys for something they have done or their selflessness and service. These are the moments when my previous point really does its work. I could hear these stories about my boys and pat myself on the back, but fortunately, I remember all the times I blew it and I know that God’s goodness is far greater than my meager abilities as a father.
My wife and I do the best we can. We have been intentional from day one and we’ve worked hard at raising our boys to be Christ followers. Yet, our accomplishments are, at best, a testament to the goodness and grace of God. When our boys have success in life, we rightly celebrate. We rejoice that they are reaching their potential and that they are living lives that are pointing back to Jesus.
Being a dad is growing my family.
As I mentioned in the introduction of this piece, our eldest is getting married very soon. We could not be happier. God has blessed him with a bride-to-be who is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She is everything and more that we could possibly want from a daughter-in-law. She is part of the family now.
I hope and pray that my other two boys do as well when they search for their future bride. We are more than ready to expand our family with future daughters and grandchildren. Being a dad has put me in a position where this is possible, and I couldn’t be more grateful or excited to see our family grow.
Final thoughts on being a dad.
There you have it – five more reasons being a dad is awesome. Our society devalues fathers. Every day you are going to encounter commercials, TV shows, movies, and news stories that tell you that dads are not that important and that being a dad is not really worth all the fuss. Those are lies.
If your marriage is blessed with children, being a dad is one of the most important and rewarding things you will ever be. Other than your relationship with God and with your wife, nothing else will come close. Celebrate it. Enjoy it. Brag (in a good way) about it. Love every minute of it. There is nothing else like it.
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- “More Than a Feeling” – The Beautiful Crucible of Marriage - April 10, 2024
My heart is melted. It’s great being a granddather, too.