L – Love (everything starts here)

A -Attitude

B – Best Effort

C- Courage

D – Discipline

E – Encouraging

F – Faithful

G – Gracious

H – Helpful

I – Imaginative

J – Joyful

K – Kind

M – Modeling

N – No excuses

O – Observe

P – Perseverance

Q – Question

R – Reliable

S – Safe

T – Thankful

U – United

Your words will build up or they  will tear down.  Your words will bring healing or cause injury.  Your words will bring peace  or start a  war.  Your words will bring life or death.

It may sound extreme but  it’s true.  There are no neutral words.  They either are adding or taking away.  Be aware of how powerful your words are and the affect that they have on your family.  Words live on forever.  Once they are spoken they can’t be taken back.  Speak words of life, love, hope, peace, comfort, and encouragement.

X – X – Factor

Dads play a vital role in the development of their children.  Kids with present fathers have higher self esteem than those who don’t.  They are more likely to form healthy life long relationships.  They are less likely to end up  abusing alcohol, drugs, or prescription medicines.  They are less likely to  exhibit violent or criminal behavior.  They are less likely to  end up in gangs or wind up in jail.  The presence of a good, loving, and active father is the x-factor for your kids.   Without you your kids are missing an important variable that makes them complete.

Y – Youthful

Stay young for your kids.  I didn’t say immature.  I said young.  Your kids have so much life bundled inside them.  Share it with them.  Have fun with them.  Be willing to live with them. To dream with them.  To seek adventure with them.  To get caught up in the story.  Being youthful is not about neglecting your parenting responsibilities and trying to be their best friend.  It’s about staying full of life, wonder, and passion.

Z – Zealous

You need to be fanatical about your family.  You need to protect them.  You need to love fiercely.  Be fanatical about protecting their hearts.  Be fanatical about feeding their minds.  Be fanatical about filling them with love.  Your kids and your wife  need to know the intensity of your love.  Don’t ever think they know it well enough.   Keep showing them.  Keep telling them.  Don’t let anyone or anything steal the treasure of family.  Ever.  Don’t let anything between the bonds of your love and commitment.  Family is a blessing and you are charged as chief protector.

I hope these past 8 days have been helpful and that you will be encouraged with ideas to grow as a father.

Day 6 post Father’s Day.

L – Love (everything starts here)

A -Attitude

B – Best Effort

C- Courage

D – Discipline

E – Encouraging

F – Faithful

G – Gracious

H – Helpful

I – Imaginative

J – Joyful

K – Kind

M – Modeling

N – No excuses

O – Observe

P – Perseverance

Q – Question

R – Reliable

A good dad is a thankful man.  He is thankful for his family, for his job, for his needs being met, for freedom, for laughter, and for love.  He is thankful in his actions, in his speech, and in his attitude.   Life is better when you’re thankful.  Teaching your kids to be thankful is a character trait that  will serve them all their lives.  Their life will be richer regardless of their income when they’re thankful.

A father should also be a leader to his family.  It is your responsibility to pull everyone together.  You should have a vision for where your leading your family and for making each member an important part.  It’s in unity that your family will live at their greatest potential.  Everyone is on the same team, pursuing the same things, and holding each other up.  It’s your job to lead the troops.

Before we get into day 3 of what good dads do here is a quick review.

L – Love

A – Attitude
B – Best Effort
C – Courage

D – Discipline

I won’t go into the specifics of how you discipline, but this is a fundamental job to parenting. Your kids are born with a bent towards being selfish. They need your instruction (based first in love) to know what is right, what behavior is acceptable, and how to become a healthy functioning person. They need the consistency and protection of your discipline. It is necessary.

E – Encouraging

A good dad encourages his kids. Your children are desperate for your attention and approval. You have a very special relationship to them and ability to feed their emotional needs. Take the time to notice their gifts, abilities, talents, and interests and encourage them to grow in them.

F – Faithful

Your kids need to know that you are committed. Committed to them and committed to your family. If you’re married they need to know you are committed to your wife. Our culture has become less and less committed to just about everything, except ourselves. Commitment has become something to be avoided if possible and personal freedom is to be pursued as first priority. Your faithfulness to your family gives your kids a great sense of security in which they can develop healthy relationships throughout their life.

G – Gracious

Your kids will make mistakes. Have some grace for them. Give them the benefit of the doubt more often than not. Gently correct them when they’re wrong. Help them to grow with kindness and through an abundance of love.

H – Helpful

Give your kids a hand with the tasks they are working on. Work with them on house projects, cleaning, fixing, or whatever it is you do. Show them that a family works together and helps out whenever they can. Remember we are all selfish by default.  We learn to help others.  Kids learn best by watching their dad.

Here is to another day to practice being a good dad.