Fathers and their relationship with their children

In the last two editions I have written about mothers and families. This time, I want to write about fathers and their important role. And, by the way, happy Father's Day to all dads out there. I hope you have a fun and relaxing day with your family. Fun with our families is very important, and often neglected.
If we never play with our children then all we do is correct, feed, do homework with them, grocery shop and the like. While all the things in this list are important, our relationships with our families must also include recreational time together. 
One of the ways to build this in is to honor the sabbath. It is hard for me to do NO work on Sunday. I have so many little jobs that pile up, and I can’t always get to them all when I get off work or on Saturday. But my children and my wife need my attention too. I don’t think that Sunday is quite enough, but it is a fantastic start.
Another suggestion I would like to offer is for you to have a “date” with your spouse, or one of your children. My wife, all my children and I form a family. There are certain dynamics within the family. Maybe one of the dynamics is that the oldest child tends to be the caregiver, or maybe the second born tends to be the peacemaker. It is nice for the child to get outside of those roles within the family, and that is often accomplished by taking one child out for one-on-one time. I remember an interaction with my second-born child. She almost never talked. One evening when she was about 7 years old, I took her to basketball practice (about a 20-minute ride). She talked the entire time; I am not even sure if she ever took a breath. As we pulled into our destination she sighed loudly and declared, “Oh, I just love talking.”
A variation on a theme here: maybe you don’t have time for an entire evening with one of the children. In such a case you may consider asking one of the children to stay up past bedtime and have a cup of hot cocoa. You might be shocked at how talkative they become in a dark, quiet house!
Dads, I know that sometimes our kids act like we are some sort of alien life form. But YOU really matter to them. 
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office of Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected]. For more information concerning the events of this office, visit us at mobilefaithformation.org