This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day. I have such tender feelings about Fathers and the importance they play in our own lives and in the lives of their children.   I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my Father in my life. He has been my rock. He gives me advice, is a fantastic listener,  he helps me set my emotions aside during those times I have to make tough choices, he sets an example for me, and throughout my adult years he has become one of my very best friends as well.

I also know my two children wouldn’t be who they today are without having their father who although he wasn’t their biological dad, he became their father by choice  when we got married 10 ½ years ago and who went on to adopt them as his own. He has been an example, a listener, and a guide for them and now that they are in their adult years he is becoming one of their best friends as well.

We live in a world where the role of father is too often diminished, belittled, or treated as unnecessary. Even our entertainment in movies and television shows too often present fathers as incompetent buffoons who add little value in their homes.  I know it garners an easy laugh from the audience when fathers get represented that way, but I also can’t help but wonder how much that representation of fathers has impacted the respect the role of father receives anymore…and I also can’t help but wonder how much that representation of fathers has impacted the self-worth of the fathers themselves these days.  I can’t imagine it hasn’t had a negative impact on both. And I can’t help but feel that perhaps we should all be more vocal about the value and importance of good fathers.

On that note I want to give a personal shout out to all the fathers out there and let them know that they matter far more than they could ever imagine in the lives of their children. Your children depend on you, they look up to you, and they desperately need your love and approval. Their little eyes never stop watching you and the example that you set. You are needed. Your role is important. And I think I speak for all of us when I say a good father is irreplaceable in the life of a child. And remember this:

“God himself, He who is highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as Father.” – A. Theodore Tuttle

 Happy Father’s Day! And thanks dads!

~Amy Rees Anderson