Benefits of Being a Father

I slept around 2am last night. My son stayed up with me. He’s looking up at me while I browse the internet. I was trying to read some articles regarding PHP programming. I looked at him and he just smiled at me. He was observing what I’ve been doing all along, maybe he was trying to read the sites I’ve been. He was maybe trying to figure out what is so interesting about letters and numbers on my screen. To check if he is really observing me, I logged in at my Picasa and checked our family photos and then I heard him commenting about the mammoth he is holding in the picture, he is really observing me. He was trying to say that he got it from McDonalds one night we decided to have dinner there. I felt happy knowing he is that curious about my work or what I’ve been doing and then I have this very thought. What are the benefits of being a father? I said, It’s time to count my blessings once again and so here they are.

1. There is always someone looking up at you.
   Whenever I feel troubled, I tend to look at myself and my condition at the office. Sometimes when I feel emotional, I feel small. In the office, I feel like I am the smallest creature there. Almost everyone looks down on me – almost. Some bosses don’t feel for their employees, some don’t care of how you feel. The more you try to tell them the problem the more they try to ignore you. So when I feel down, I just think of my son. He is always their looking up at me with a sweet smile. I have someone who looks up at me, respects me and depends on me.
2. A chance to lead.
   Have you ever felt that you can’t be a good leader? Being a father is being a leader. You make decisions not just for yourself but for the whole family. Most of the time your decisions will benefit your family and not for your own. You even sacrifice your own desires for the family. You make tough decisions to make your family survive and to surpass problems that the family is facing. All of these contribute to the traits of a good leader. So when you feel less confident, think again. Being a father is no joke, it is not as hard as the one you’ll be facing at your office. Why? You can always go and find another job if you can and want but your family is always there wherever you go. The problems we face in our family is not something we can run from, unlike our jobs that we could always let go if we wanted to.
3. Shape a new future
   We often make mistakes in our lives, the only problem is its effect. We may not like some instances in our current life like debts, poverty, broken-family and other negative aspects that we are currently facing. We may not be able to change our life now but we could lead and shape a new future for our children. We can teach them the values we have learned by teaching them the effects of our past mistakes so they can avoid the same mistakes.
4. We learn and realize new values.
   We may not always have understood our fathers during our youth but all will be realized once we stepped on their toes. The questions we have before of why our father do things will begin to have answers. We’ll realize how wrong we are and right they are.

Now, do you still feel down about yourself? I wish I could tell my father right now of how right he was before and how wrong I am. He always reminded me that I’ll realize everything when I become a father or a parent. No matter how I tried to understand him before, I can’t coz I am not in his situation. I wish I could tell him how sorry I am for the wrong things I’ve done and how blessed I am for having him as a father. He may not have been wise or a good model but he was a good person, a good adviser. All his words remained in my heart as a good testament, my guidelines towards a better future. Wherever you are Dad, thank you!