Observations About Dads

I have always considered my husband to be a good dad. He takes an interest in what our children are interested in and he has always wanted to be a big part of their lives. He hurries home every evening as soon as he can and although very tired from a long day, he makes time to talk to each of the children. Even now that our oldest lives out of our home, he keeps in daily contact with her by text messages and phone calls.

While on vacation this past summer, I had some time to observe other dads with their children. Those fathers that were around us in the campground, on the beach, and on the trails were great subjects for my observations.

I came to a conclusion after much thought.

There is a difference between a good dad and a great dad.

Good dads are involved with their children and take time to include them in many of their activities....putting up tents, starting fires, sitting around the campfire. But a dad steps over into the great category when he shows them how to do something and then steps back and lets them do it all on their own. He trains them to do a job and allows them some room to take the job on all by themselves.

But there is a another difference that I noted that I have been pondering ever since arriving back home.



I think that great dads are interested and get involved in what their children are interested and involved with. Making sand castles, whittling sticks, making s'mores, playing catch, skimming stones.......things where the child leads and the parent follows.

We have found that as the boys get older it is more essential than ever to follow their lead when it comes to interests.

On one camping trip I noted several times that my husband jumped into the great dad category without hesitation.


Building beach structures. My boys did the orchestrating and my husband provided some of the muscle. He didn't even offer any advice.


Climbing on tree trunks. Silly thing really but it was fun for the boys to see their dad hanging on a tree.


Playing catch at the campsite. My boys had packed the mitts and ball with the idea of playing a little with each other but as soon as the ball came out my husband was up and asking to play too. Let's just say I heard some good conversation while that ball whizzed back and forth. It made my heart sing and I'm sure my boys loved it too.

So many more examples happened that I didn't capture in a photo but you get the idea.

As the mother of three sons, I appreciate that my husband is not only a good dad but a great dad as well. Why did I feel the need to reflect about dads? Probably because my own relationship with my dad is fairly precarious right now.