Fatherhood Friday

You all know that being a father is important to me.  If you have been paying any attention at all, you know that it is the MOST important thing to me.

I want to talk about something that, as a father, Iadvocate fully, and that thing is:  Full Spectrum Fatherhood.

Sure, I've blogged about it before, but you can't really talk about this stuff too much, can you?  Of course you can't.  Why?  Because we dads have an important job to do, don't we?  You bet your ass, we do.

We are the kind of men that are sons must aspire to be:  Responsible, honorable, strong, decent, loving, respectful, hardworking, honest, and true.  We have to be role models of manhood for our sons, because if we aren't, they'll take their behavioral cues from someone else, and we really don't want to leave that to chance, do we?

We have to be all of those things, and more to our sons... but that isn't all.

We are the kind of men that our daughters should have as an example of what is desirable in a man.  See my earlier comments about desirable traits above.  If we are good men, our daughters will have a present example of what a good man is, and what a good man does.

So... what does all of that have to do with Full Spectrum Fatherhood??  It's simple:  To be all of those things that I mentioned, we first have to be involved in the raising of our children.  While it is certainly true, that in two-parent households, the primary caregiver to the children is the mother, more and more two-parent households have both parents working full-time jobs.  What this means is that both mom and dad have to share in child-rearing responsibilities... and that goes beyond "taking the kids for a while", as some of my colleagues say.

A full-spectrum dad does it all!  A full-spectrum dad doesn't tell his wife the the baby has a full diaper, he changes the diaper himself.  A full spectrum dad doesn't tell his wife that the kids are hungry, he makes a meal for his children.  A full spectrum dad will comb and braid his daughter's hair, not wait for his wife to do it.  A full spectrum dad doesn't sleep in on Sunday while his wife takes thekids to church, he goes, too... and participates!  A full spectrum dad parents his children co-equally with his spouse, whether she has a job outside of the home, or not.  A full spectrum dad does not babysit his children. 

Even though popular culture doesn't really portray full-spectrum fatherhood very clearly, we are out there.  We are in your offices, in the armed forces, turning wrenches in factories, swinging hammers in construction, working from home in small businesses.  We are even stay at home dads.

Full-Spectrum dads are their children's heroes.  Full spectrum dads are envied by other, lesser men.

Lastly, and almost most importantly, being a full spectrum dad is hot.  Chicks dig, it... and if you don't believe me, ask the woman married to one of these great guys.

Fatherhood Friday is a new feature here at A Modern Warrior's Life.  Please visit The Dad Blogs, and meet my posse.  We roll deep.