I swear my perspective completely changed within a matter of months with regards to my readiness for fatherhood as well as my desire for it. One day I was thinking to myself that it’ll probably take me another four years to be “ready to be a father,” but within a matter of a month I was surprised at just how elated I was to learn that my partner was pregnant and we were expecting!
It’s like there’s this invisible place from whence the paternal instincts suddenly kick-in, especially once your little bundle of joy arrives in the world. By no means are you completely clued up about what you have to do, but something magical happens and you’re guided by some invisible force which has you feeling confident you can definitely do this fatherhood thing.
Quite a considerable amount of time into the journey of fatherhood and I’ve since made an effort to try and isolate the gist of what fatherhood is all about and in an attempt to try and define what my job as a father is I’ve come to quite a number of pointers which constitute this responsibility and great privilege.
Provide
Things might be switching around a bit and evolving as part of the dynamic nature of the world we’re living in, certainly as far as gender roles go. However, natural paternal instinct still has one as a father feeling like it’s their job to provide for their child and for the whole family for that matter.
Protect
This is another instinct of which its strength perhaps depends on the dynamics surrounding your unique situation as a parent. If you live in a particularly rough neighbourhood for example, naturally you’d look towards some equivalent means through which to ensure the safety of your children and of your family should the need arise, such as how in those U.S. states which make for the provision to bear arms, citizens often exercise that right.
Educate
Educating your child goes beyond just putting them through the schooling system, encompassing some of life’s lessons you perhaps learned yourself. For example, finding yourself in a situation where you need the services of a Fort Bragg court martial lawyer could have so many implications to it, one of which is just how unfair the world can be to people who give up their lives to serve their country.
Support
For as long as you live, your children should be able to come to you for support, even if they’re all grown up and are independent adults. They should always have you as their support structure.
Now these aren’t listed and discussed in any particular order other than that at which they came to me while jotting them down, so by no means am I suggesting that one takes precedence over another. Instead, all of these pretty much come together in application at the same time, which is why it’s really all about doing the best that you can do because life happens and sometimes, many times, things don’t quite work out the way you want them to.
