What Makes A Good Father

A colleague of mine recently exclaimed, “too many men are just guessing at what fatherhood should be like.” She went on to note that, after twenty-five years and eight children, her husband had finally found what it meant to be a ‘good father.’ “He had a late start,” she’d said. Because as a young boy he’d had a distant, unloving relationship with his father. So initially in their marriage, he had been a good provider, but fell short of being a ‘good father.’


He seemed unable to express the caring and helpful modeling characteristic of such a father. “Then my husband had a spiritual awakening, which eventually brought him into association with men who had experience being raised and loved by ‘good fathers.’ Overnight my husband seemed to change. Even the relationship with his own father greatly improved,” she said. “Still, the failure of my husband to have had a bonding father-son relationship early in his life has left some distance between them. This is the burden of not having been raised by a ‘good father’.”


My colleague’s early frustration is understandable, and it highlights the issue facing many American families today. It is the need for more ‘good fathers’,

to help guide and emotionally equip their sons to reach toward manhood, and to thrive. Without such fathers our ability to sustain the traditional nuclear family is threatened. Too many sons and daughters are being raised without the emotional and moral guidance they need from their fathers. This book is based upon the experiences of countless fathers, some very good and some not so good. And it is designed to offer suggestions to all fathers, young and old, on how to avoid mistakes in the father-son relationship, and thereby to become even better fathers.