no ordinary days

Angela Howard

Four Fantastic Fathers Give Advice on Father’s Day

By: Angela Howard

This Father’s Day I was surrounded by four fantastic fathers: My dad, my husband, my brother, and my brother in law. Each father is unique in personality and parenting style, but these men are equally dedicated to loving their kids. Having a wealth of information at my disposal I asked  them to offer up some parenting advice for us this Father’s Day.

From My Dad, Wayne Sommers

42 Years of Parenting Experience

  1. Be a good listener.
  2. Don’t jump to conclusions.
  3. You’ll learn by making mistakes.
  4. Being present for your kids is invaluable.
  5. Tell the truth.
  6. Be willing to stand up for your kids, especially when they can’t do it for themselves.
  7. Be consistently affectionate.
  8. Teach God’s Word through the circumstances of life, not just platitudes.
  9. Live out your faith, so that they will see through the good and bad times.
  10. Don’t withhold affection during discipline.
  11. Integrity is taught when you think your kids aren’t watching, but they’re always watching.
  12. Foster closeness, by talking to them on their level about things they’re interested in.
  13. Don’t discipline out of anger.
  14. Ask them this honest question and listen to the answer: How am I doing as your dad?
  15. Don’t be afraid of conflict. No conflict, no closeness.

From My Husband, Michael Howard

17 Years of Parenting Experience

  1. Learn who your kids are as individuals. There’s no one size fits all parenting.
  2. Learn how to listen. Not every situation needs advice.

 

From My Brother in Law, Matt Garner

13 Years of Parenting Experience

  1. Love their mother the most.
  2. Their feelings are valid, even if they aren’t true.

From My Brother, Derek Sommers

11 Years of Parenting Experience

  1. Appreciate each stage of development.
  2. Don’t say: “What’s wrong with you?” when your kids misbehave. Kids are learning and developing, don’t assign a negative identity to them.

What advice would you add to the list?

Further Reading on Parenting:

How to Love Your Crazy Family–52 Quick Reads for No Ordinary Days

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Comments

  1. Shari says

    Great guidelines from our family men! Thank you for sharing. Such tenderness and insight, shows great strength.

  2. Debbie Kitterman says

    Angela, such a great idea to share wisdom from fathers! I especially love this one: “Don’t say: “What’s wrong with you?” when your kids misbehave. Kids are learning and developing, don’t assign a negative identity to them.” This is so important! If we say things like this to our children it instills in them the belief that they can’t make mistakes or that they have to be perfect. Great advice! We’re neighbors today on #RaRaLinkup.

    • Angela Howard says

      Thank you Debbie! I absolutely love their advice as well. I feel like we can always learn from each other and sometimes we don’t value the incredible resources in our own families. Thank you for your thoughts today :)

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