Being the notorious PapiBlogger, Daddy of Four, that I am, I get asked a lot of questions about parenting. People see my happy road trip photos with my family and automatically assume that I have it all together as this great big family guy.
Well, the truth is that I’m not that put together. Not by a mile. The real PapiBlogger is a super driven, workaholic father who hates doing homework with the kids and often struggles to even take them out to walk around the neighborhood.
I don’t exactly suck as a dad either. There’s a lot of things I do for and with my kids that other dads don’t do as well as I do but overall, I’m, well, just a regular, middle of the pack dad.
Earlier this week I was invited as PapiBlogger to speak about fatherhood on National Public Radio. I was on the show with two other dads when the radio host asked each of us what was the very best fatherly advice we could ever give a new dad for Father’s Day.
Evaluating of my struggles as a dad, I thought about this question long and hard. What would be the one thing I can say to new (or old) dads that will help them be a better father?
The best advice I can give any dad (or mom for that matter) is to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. If you want to know how to be a dad, no one can teach you more about how to love, encourage, educate and correct your children then the Lord. Every day I wake up I ask the Lord to help me be a better dad than I am because frankly in this day and age it’s extra hard work.
In the 13 years since I first became a dad, the Lord has been the only true parenting compass I’ve had about how to steer my children. To know God the Father is to become a better father.