Proof Boys Need Dads

On the way to a Chinese Restaurant on Sunday, I rode in my dad’s truck with him, my mom, and my ten-year-old brother, David.

“Chinese is my least favorite food!” David moaned, as real tears rolled down his cheeks. “I hate Chinese food!”

My mom, in the back seat, tried to console him. “David, just try to eat a little bit. Please? You like rice, don’t you?”

“Oooh,” he continue to sob.

“David,” said my dad from the driver’s seat. His voice was strong and commanding. I could tell it was going to be one of those no-room-for-negotiation talks I had experienced myself in my own childhood.

“Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t like,” my dad continued. “Today you are going to eat Chinese food and you are going to do it gracefully. You are not going to complain. Do you understand?”

David wiped his tears and managed to mutter a “Yes.”

This little conversation really struck me as proof that boys need a father to become a man. While mothers are essential too, there is just something about a father speaking to a boy to encourage him to rise to the occasion and become a Man.

God bless fathers who take their jobs seriously and make a difference in their boys’ lives.