Trying to be a Better Dad

For Lent this year, I have given up something that really is not tangible. No it is not chocolate (good luck Liss), or the internet (obviously), or anything else that is the traditional "I will go without..." No, for Lent this year I have given up, or at least tried to give up, my impatience, my anger, my frustration, my selfishness, when dealing with my kids.

I want to be a better Dad, and the only way I can accomplish this is by pushing the anger away, or by waiting a few minutes to respond when one of the kids just flat out will not listen - that is my Lenten wish. It is all too easy to just say "NO," or "Just wait a minute." What is much more difficult is to put aside my own desires, my wants, whatever I am doing at the minute and say "What sweetie," or "Sure we can do that."

Tonight I have been tested and, I like to think, I have done pretty well. The kids really did not want to go to bed. Caitlyn kept getting up, or wanting me to lay down with her. Dylan was yelling "DAAAAADDD!" about every five minutes. During nights like these, I often go to their rooms and tell them "Just go to sleep!" I might lie down with them for a minute or two, or even get them a drink of water (grudgingly) but I always am a bit short with them. Of course, they eventually relax and drift off but, try as I might, I usually end up a bit perturbed about it all. Tonight I wasn't. I kept going back to their rooms, answering their questions, adjusting the covers and pillows, getting the requisite drinks of water.

You see, I don't think that I am a bad Dad, and am probably just your average Dad, I just sometimes am in a hurry, or tired of telling them again and again to do something, and it frustrates me. This frustration is palpable, though I do not want it to be. So, for Lent, I will get rid of whatever causes this frustration.

I will try to see the world more from their perspectives, I will take the time to be a more active listener, I will praise Dylan's artwork, Caitlyn's singing, and all of the small, yet significant, things that Meghan does every day. I will be the kind of Dad, and husband, that I have always wanted to be. And hope that, as Lent passes on to Easter, I do not forget what I have learned.

With God's grace, I can be a better Dad.