How to Be a Great Dad
My experience learning from a Dad Consultant
I never imagined I’d be on a consulting call about being a Dad.
Here’s why I had the call and what I learned — and how you can get super intentional as a father.
It’s not easy being an intentional Dad to five kids. I’ve always felt uncomfortable as a Father, mainly because my first four kids were girls and I grew up with mostly brothers.
My wife and I came across this question recently that wrecked us: “Candidly speaking, are we molding our children, or just managing them? Are we proactive or reactive in our parenting?” Our answer: we were managing them. I knew I had to change.
But I had no clear direction.
Then I came across @WonderDads on a random Facebook thread from a fellow Dad asking for help. I signed up for the app, and scheduled a “consulting” call. I had no clue what would happen. Darren, my VIP guide called me. He was kind, gracious, and asked me detailed questions about my kids while I awkwardly answered.
He shared three things he recommended each Dad does regularly. It was so simple, yet in my mind profound:
Take each child to breakfast each month and ask: “What’s going on? Is everything okay?” And just stay silent and LISTEN. Schedule those and don’t miss them.
Every birthday write a letter to your child. Store it away in a notebook or other place like a scrapbook. Keep doing it every year and gift all of those letters to your son or daughter at age 18. His kids treasure that gift.
Cook with the kids once a month. Don’t just cook but grab a recipe, take the kids to shop for the groceries, and then make the meal. Use this to teach them life lessons and key skills. He said his now daughters-in-law love that he did this!
But that wasn’t it. He also provided me with a DETAILED plan for taking the kids on a weekend trip — a special DAD trip.
In my case, it was a 3 day trip to Lancaster, PA. Each and every detail was set up for me. I just had to execute on the plan.
There are thousands of ways you can get intentional, but this was an amazing first step. Get a call set up with @WonderDads and start molding and stop just managing your kids.
You’ll thank me later.