Fatherhood: How To Know If You Are A Good Dad

I can’t remember anything he said that day, except on this one point. 

It was roughly 20 years ago. I was a young dad, probably too young. My wife and I were sitting in church listening to a guest speaker who was speaking about fatherhood.

A question had been posed to him; a question along the lines of, “How can you know if you’re a good father?” It was a question I wrestled with. His answer was simple, yet very sobering. He said,

“I’ll know if I’m a good father when I see how my grandchildren turn out.“

What he meant was that if he had been a good father, then the values and character he wanted to instill in his children would manifest themselves in the way his children raised their own.

The truth is there is no quick fix, life hack, or three easy steps to being a good dad. It’s doing the work, day in and day out, with patience and consistency over time. Then, you’ll get your report card a generation later.

So buckle up buttercup and raise good grandchildren by first raising their parents well. 

It will be worth it.