What Is A Good Father?

As father's day is round the corner I started thinking about what it takes to be a father, and to do this, instead of reading articles, how-to books or even what others have said or are saying on father hood, I fell back on my own experience.

Although I have five kids my thoughts take me 35 years back in time and what it meant being a son and why I always knew my father was a good father - the best I could have.

One way of reliving the feelings I had is describing the way he was. How he was never afraid of showing his feeling to us, his children; how proud we were to carry his surname; his humor, his stories - even when his disciplined us (we always felt he was fair); the good, the bad and the ugly. As memories start to flash back even his smell, his laughter and his voice are present.

But somehow it doesn't feel right - it fails to conjure up a complete person. Its like I am dissecting him and the whole was always much larger than the parts.

And then I remembered a feeling and from there a moment in time we brothers shared. And this does give me an answer to my question.

When I was 15 or so, a year after he died, my sister, my brothers and I (one girl, three boys) were in the kitchen one evening. It was one of those rare moments when we felt totally at peace with each other, sharing deep thoughts and feelings.

It was a perfect moment and it got even better. I think it was my sister who reminded us that our father had always treated us equally and never shown any favoritism. This had always made us feel really good about him and ourselves, and it was precisely the sort of thing we were careful not to challenge in case anyone of us was hurt.

And then one of us, actually it was me, decided to share something.

I told them that when we were together, fishing, driving or whatever, I always knew that I was the favorite. Everybody started talking at once, and I realized that I had crossed a forbidden line. And then I it came to me that nobody was angry or hurt - instead they were all repeating exactly the same thing.

Each one of us had always known, deep down in our hearts, that he or she was his favorite child.

And that, as far as I am concerned is how to become a good father - be there 100% with your child, when you are with him or her.