Respecting Your Father and On Your Relationship with Your Father, by Our Papa
The Fatherless Family |
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You might be thinking, "I don't have the hours in
my day or the expertise necessary to make that kind of commitment."
However, mentoring doesn't always have to involve the huge investment
of time and energy that you might think. You don't have to go to
college to obtain a four-year "mentoring degree" in order to make a
positive impact on children around you! Ample opportunities exist to
simply share what you know with fatherless kids, whether in church, or
through nonprofit organizations such as the Boy Scouts, or through your
own child's school, and so on. Even investing an hour a week with a
child — taking her out for ice cream with your family, helping
him with his math homework, sharing Scripture and ultimately just
loving him or her — can make a world of difference. It certainly
did in my life.
In his book Bringing Up Boys, Dr. Dobson compiled a
list of additional ideas for those who wish to invest themselves in the
lives of children — and particularly males — who don't have
a father figure at home. I have included that excerpt below; perhaps it
will provide you with some food for thought as you consider how you
might become involved in this issue.
As a single mother, you must make an all-out effort
to find a father-substitute for your boys. An uncle or a neighbor or a
coach or a musical director or a Sunday-school teacher may do the
trick. Placing your boy under the influence of such a man for even a
single hour per week can make a great difference. Get them involved in
Boy Scouts, Boy's Club, soccer or Little League. Give your boys
biographies, and take them to movies or rent videos that focus on
strong masculine (but moral) heroes.
It should be noted that, while the primary
caregivers in 84 percent of single-parent homes are mothers, there is
also a significant number of single fathers out there who are
struggling to raise children on their own. If your family knows one of
these hard-working dads, you might also want to think about how you
could come alongside him and his children. Motherless daughters, in
particular, could benefit greatly from the influence of a Christian
family and a godly wife and mother.
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