Join us as we take a break from our normal format and dig into being a better father. This is something that has been on our mind since we have 10 kids represented in the 3 dads on our podcast! We will be skipping the normal three segments (What's on your mind, top 3, and a good word) and we will be talking about traits and characteristics of being a good father. We are using this article 23 Qualities of a Good Father - Traits & Characteristics written by Jeff Campbell from newmiddleclassdad.com. The plan is to cover about 3 qualities per episode. Since the ages of our kids are spread between 20 and 5, we'll have some insight that will help all of our listeners! 

 

from the article: 

4. Take an active interest in their interests

Guess what?  I’m not a huge Katie Perry fan.  But you know how many times I’ve heard her music?  It’s well into the hundreds.

I also took my oldest daughter to see Panic! at the Disco in concert with one of her BFFs. Not exactly my scene (but I actually was impressed).

When you take an interest in your kid’s interests, you’re taking an interest in them.  You’re telling them you care about them as a person.

5. Let kids develop their own interests

When I was 10 guess what?  I liked a lot of different stuff than what my Mom liked. And that’s OK.

It’s OK to influence our kid’s taste (that’s why I kept playing Star Wars moviesuntil they clicked).

But we have to accept that our kids are going to not like everything we like.

They will like some stuff we don’t and that’s OK (as long as what they like is age-appropriate)

6. Don’t have a different set of rules for your kids than you do for yourself

No one likes a hypocrite, so why should our kids be any different?

Mean what you say and say what you mean.

Example: In our house, Sunday is “technology-free day”, so my wife and I do our best to avoid technology for personal use as well.

 

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