Parenthood is not easy and being a Father who is regarded as the head of the family is even a more daunting task as you will be saddled with alot of responsibilities which you must execute effectively. Some of these Responsibilities will be discussed as we continue.
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Responsibilities Of A Father
a. Providing for the Family: It is the tradition role and responsibility of a Father to provide the basic and material needs of all members of the family.
b. Protecting the Family: A father is the head of a family. Thus, such a Father is the number one figure in the family at the forefront of the family. He is therefore responsible for leading them rightly and protecting them at all costs from danger, exploitation and unpalatable situations.
c. Training the Children: While training a child seems to be the joint responsibility of a Father and Mother, it appears that a Father plays a more fundamental role in disciplining, protecting and training their Child as it is their responsibility to train their Children rightly.
The biblical allusion “Train a Child in the way they should grow so that when they grow they won’t depart from it” lays Credence to this responsibility which is the responsibility of a Father and a Father may train their child either personally or by sending them to school to get a formal training or Education.
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d. Decision Making: A father is responsible for making key decision making in the family and guaranteeing the welfare and happiness of every member of the Family.
These are the major responsibilities which a Father is charged with and rightfully he must deliver these responsibilities for a happy and successful Family living. However, it doesn’t end there as he must do way more than this to be regarded as a good father in the eyes of your Children and the society at large, so how can one become a good father?
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Tips On How To Become a Good Father
The following are some of the ways in which a Father should perform his responsibilities and act rightly in order to positively impact his children and provide sound parent ship to them:
1. Leading by example: It is said that an unexamined life is not worth living, so therefore for your life to be worth living you must live an examined life full of wins and experience. Living such a life will set a pace for your children which they have to follow and this will make them idolize your footsteps in order to meet up with your pace.
A good father is a father who sets good precedence for his children and a good father leads his children by example.
2. Spending time with your Children: It is not enough to work hard to have a wonderful career and live a life which will be inspirational to the world, you need to perfectly strike the balance between Work, personal life and Family so as to tick all boxes.
One effective way of leading by example and being a good father is by spending quality time with your children, doing so will develop a cordial father and child relationship and will make your child comfortable around you as well as cool with opening up to you on important issues. A father who can control their child or have a deep cordial relationship with them in their adulthood is definitely a good father as he must have earned the respect of his children through leading by example and establishing a cordial relationship with them.
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3. Showing Respect: It is not enough to earn the respect of your children, but you need to also show respect to them too. Respect is reciprocal, so therefore if you don’t have respect for your children in the long run they will definitely lose theirs for you and I’m sure this is not the status you want to attain as a Father. So therefore you must act rightly to your children and respect their differences, desires and wants in life as they grow up. A good father doesn’t enforces his own wants on a grown child rather he advises such a child towards making the right decisions.
When you make decisions for your child, enforce a decision on them, limit their activities in the name of rightfully training such a Child, then sooner or later you may lose the respect of the child and this is not a wonderful sight for a good Father.
4. Treating your Children rightly: By showing respect to your children and for their wants, ideologies and differences, you will learn how to treat them rightly, show love and support to them.
Effectively doing so are traits of a good Father and it further helps develop a lasting relationship with your children.
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5. Developing a good relationship with your Children: A good Father must definitely develop a good relationship with his children. As a matter of fact, no matter how much you work hard to provide the needs of your children, your efforts will never be regarded if you have a very poor relationship or communication with your children.
The latter develops resentment in the hearts of your children against you and this is not the end result of the life of a good Father.
6. Teaching your Children: A good Father aids in the development of his children by strategically teaching them important things about life which will open their eyes and guide their direction and decisions in the long run. When your children are guided by your path or are following your footsteps, then it means that you are leading them rightly as a Father.
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7. Disciplining your Children: A good Father trains his children rightly by disciplining them. By disciplining your children you need to apply more intelligent methods which will bring about changes in their life, it is not enough to beat a Child as most often that not it has no effect on that child especially when it is a grown child, so therefore you must apply reformative approaches to enforce a lasting discipline on the child which will shape their thoughts and guide their actions in the long run.
8. Providing support: A Father is the backbone of every family as you are the pillar which your wife and children stands on, so you need to be strong enough so that the family will not collapse. A good Father stands strong by providing the necessary support and motivation to members of the family.
It is not enough to provide for the needs of the Family, but you also need to provide the best emotional and psychological support for the members of your family which will help them in making the right decisions and succeeding in their life endeavors.
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9. Admitting your mistakes: Nobody is perfect, so even as a Father who is the head of a Family you are not perfect and you are not above making mistakes. Good parentship demands that you will not only correct the mistakes of your child, but you should also admit to your own mistakes when you make any. So doing will make a positive impact in your children which will influence their character and actions too.
10. Helping out: Finally, a good Father helps out in everyway possible; not only in providing financial services, but also in helping your children with their assignments, helping them learn a skill, helping your wife with the house chores.
Your children will love and appreciate you more when you do these little things for them particularly occasionally helping out with the house chores, as they see it as the role of the mother so therefore won’t really appreciate it when the mother is doing it but when the father is doing it the reverse becomes the case and it will make them understand that house chores is not a gender specific duty and this will positively influence their beliefs and actions and make them live by your example.
Children lives by the example or precedent set by a good Father. So therefore when you are setting a good example which your children are following, then you are a good Father.
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In conclusion, it is instructive to note that becoming a good Father simultaneously involves both delivering your responsibilities as a Father and living by these ways so mentioned in this article. By doing both you will invariably live a fulfilled life as a good Father.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.