The Value of a Good Father

Matt's Favorite T-shirt

I don't think I can begin to adequately describe the value of a father, but I know that the good ones don't get nearly enough recognition. They get marginalized, overlooked and lumped in with those hateful stereotypes that circulate about men.

Excuse the following tirade, but I HATE the way most fathers are portrayed in the media. They all seem to be sitcom, self-absorbed, adolescent, buffoons. Those aren't the fathers I see in the homes around me.  The good fathers I know are intelligent, hard-working, love their wife, love their kids, love God, and are out in the world every day just doing the best that they can. May God Bless Them.

I am fortunate enough to be married to the wonderful father of our 5 (soon to be 6) children. And for Parenting-Tuesday I'd like to paint a picture of this good father in action yesterday...

Jared's nasty cold has spread to most of our family, including Matt, but I'll tell you how he spent yesterday. Working hard to support our large family and then spending the evening with us. Though I haven't been very sick this pregnancy, I'm pretty well exhausted around 6:30 each night, so Matt went to pick up pizza for the healthier family members, and I made chicken soup for the bedridden.

We picnicked in the living room watching the movie "Heidi" while Matt played chess with the boys for a couple of hours.  He was teaching them, encouraging them and just BEING with them. He cleaned up after Jared spilled milk on the carpet and then he got Jared ready for bed.

He lead our family in prayers and helped tuck kids in for the night. I fell asleep on the couch after tucking all the kids into bed, but Matt kept going. He needed to pack for his red-eye flight to New York, but he stopped his packing when Max woke up miserable and vomiting. He comforted Max, got him showered and changed. He gave him a priesthood blessing.

Then Matt stripped the dirty sheets, and got them scrubbing in washing machine. He tucked Max back into bed, laid out some towels to shield the carpet, and put a fresh garbage can by Max's side. And then he went back to his packing - all without waking me.

Before he left, he gently urged me to head to bed and gave me a brief update on Max. He expressed concern for ME, and that he worried I would have a rough night. But I know HE would be lucky to catch a few restless hours of sleep on an overnight flight. He does these red-eyes so he can spend as much time with our family as possible.

No. I can't begin to describe the value of a good father because they are invaluable.

But will you do something? If you know good fathers, then the next time you hear man-hating comments will you gently say, "Not all men are like that. I know very good men." Let's look at ALL the good, unselfish, helpful things they do and not harp on their mistakes. Let's blog, facebook, tweet and TALK about the good men in our lives. Let's point them out to our sons and say, "Look... there's a good man. It can be done. You can be a great man too." Let's thank the good father's in our lives more often and not wait for the cards at Father's Day.  Let's let the world know how valuable a good father really is and that they're needed.

So, to the father of my children, to my own father, and to my father-in-law, I say
"Thank you very much. You are so important in our lives, and we love you!"