Be a father to your children

The beloved radio commentator, Paul Harvey, wrote this: “At a time when being a buddy to one’s son is popular, I am going to stay a father…If a gap exists between my sons and daughters and myself, I am going to work hard to understand, but I am also going to work hard to be understood…when they tell it like it is, I will listen, even if I like it better the way it was. If old-fashioned things such as prayer, Bible study, worship and faith in God ever seem to my children to be out of date, square, or whatever—I trust God’s help to have faith enough to yet pray for them, and I pledge with the patriarch Job to offer additional sacrifices for them. With love in our home, I will answer their questions about the facts of life, but at nudeness and lewdness I refuse to wink…If experimentation with drugs or marijuana is ever a problem, it will be in violation of my every prayer and request…I want my children to know that I make mistakes, that I am foolish, proud and often inconsistent. But I will not tolerate that as an excuse for my hypocrisy. I will ask them to help me change…and to expect me to help them change…Others may look to the under-thirty crowd for the wisdom to throw away the past and to say what will remain for future generations; others may let the offspring in the house determine the foods, the music, and the spending of the household, but I am going to stay a father.”