7 Secrets of Effective Parenting
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 by
There is a story about an old man who was going through his attic one day and came across a journal that was his son’s when he was very young. He’d never seen the journal before and didn’t even know his son had kept one. As he looked at the dates in the journal and read some of the entries, he quickly ascertained that his son had been nine years old at the time.
He read through a few of the entries and realized how fast his children had grown up, how busy it was back in those days and how hard he had worked to support them for so many years. With his wife gone now, and the kids each living several states away, he realized how much he missed them all and how lonely his life had become. For years he’d kept a day planner of his daily business activities, and he thought it would be interesting to compare his calendar entries with those of his nine-year-old son. He took the journal back to his study and pulled his old planner from his file cabinet for that particular year and laid it out on his desk. As he paged through his calendar he noted one particular date; June 15th, a Saturday.
His notes read, “Took Tommy fishing. Didn’t catch a thing. Wasted a day.” He opened up Tommy’s journal to June 15th and read these words: “Went fishing with Dad today. The BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!”
In his book The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers, Dr. Ken Canfield, founder of the National Center for Fathering, relates the conclusion of years of statistical research on what effective fathers do that others don’t do. Beginning with the basic assumptions that fathering is important; it is a learned skill; and it brings with it great rewards, he goes on to relate the seven things that stand out about the most effective fathers:
1. They demonstrate long-term commitment to their children and spouse.
2. They know their children.
3. They are consistent, meaning regular, predictable and dependable.
4. They accept the role of protector and provider for their family.
5. They love their spouse and demonstrate it in front of their children.
6. They actively listen to their family.
7. They equip their children spiritually to develop a faith of their own.
Dennis Nun has served on the board of SE NE Youth for Christ for many years. He has written a book “Dad’s Class” (http://www.dadsclass.com/). Dennis has made this book available free of charge to all Campus Life parents. You can download the book here>
Copyright © Dennis L. Nun
Reused with permission. You can download the entire Dad’s Class Book Here >