I’m not a British Royal watcher at all. But the fact that a new prince was born this week has dotted my social media feeds to the point of not being able to avoid this story. That said, I’m always happy when a new baby is born and I’m happy for the new parents as they start on the crazy road of parenting. Parenting is everything you never knew you wanted to know, and needed to feel — it refines you and tests you in ways you didn’t know existed. But there is also indescribable joy and love that come with parenting too.
That all said, and this week being Mother’s Day, I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to steal Mom’s thunder but time is of the essence today, and it relates to the new prince being born. Someone I follow on twitter, retweeted the following:
This tweet came from a popular women’s magazine, the title of which I’m not going to say. But 127 people were woke enough to give it a thumbs up. Sorry, that’s just wrong. Kids need their dads. They need there dads to provide, not just temporal things, but also emotional and spiritual things. Fathers are important.
The Plan of Salvation has roles for men and women — men’s and women’s roles are obviously different, but equally important. Data shows the importance of father’s as well.
“Children with involved dads are less likely to break the law and drop out of school. Guided by close relationships with father figures, these kids disproportionately grow up to avoid risky sex, pursue healthy relationships, and hold down high-paying jobs. They’re unlikely to become homeless or rely on welfare and more likely to have higher IQ scores than their peers by age three. Longer term, they suffer from fewer psychological problems and may be less prone to obesity”
Data Show the Benefits of Fathers, by Fr. John Flynn
The Significance of a Father’s Influence, Q&A, from Focus on the Family
10 Facts About Father Engagement, by The Fatherhood Project
And there are many more articles published about the importance of fathers. To the women’s magazine I tweeted back, “Nope. Dad’s are so important. I wish that my Dad would have been more involved in my life growing up.”
To our readers who are Dads, thank you for what you do. Teach your kids, love them, help them, be there for them. They will love it if you do.
So true. I cant imagine being myself today without the lessons taught to me by both parents separately, and the lessons they taught me when they were together. Both moms and dads are a blessing. Different for sure, but no less important.
An attentive Dad is awesome, both as a child of such a Dad and as the wife of such a Dad.
I forget the details, but there was a study a while back where researchers noticed that animals would fuss in front of female researchers, but would be quiet and cowed in the presence of male researchers. If I remember right, it was a pheromone thing. Even when the male parent is a gentle and sweet individual, their mere maleness can have an interesting effect on the small people, helping “tame” them when maternal efforts have not been sufficiently effective.
I do agree that it’s sad that some women are so allergic to the idea of a man as a parent that they have to be upset at all the focus on a father.
[For what it’s worth, I must live in a deep cave, because I was only peripherally aware of the new Royal addition.]
…or you’re not subscribed to the whole world as I am … seriously need to do something about that. Mostly everyone was freaking out that they named him “Archie” …. it’s a perfectly British name for the little prince.
‘Archie’ to many Americans is a comic book teenager, fortunately not the worst of characters. But it is likely to become the name of a lot of boy babies in the immediate future. It is short enough and strange enough to appeal to those who are looking for something different. As for dads, I had a lovely, caring father. It was my privilege to care for him when he grew senile. We stayed friends even when his walls closed in and he forgot how to do most little domestic chores. The most important thing I remember from my childhood is he treated me like a person. He listened.
I know the Archie comics, but I didn’t think of that. I really thought of some some British peer playing cricket.
M* readers, when do you think the Proclamation on the Family will become canonized scripture? October 2020, perhaps, for the 25th anniversary of its issuance? I have felt it will some day be “Holy Scripture”, from the time it was proclaimed. Not that the antichrists will care. But “the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent…” Thank you for the post.
We have had that discussion among ourselves many times Laurent. My own thoughts are yes, I do believe it will be canonized one day, along with “The Living Christ” — who knows when that will be.
However, it is still scripture as far as I’m concerned. I know there are many within the church that believe, and preach that it is not scripture, that it is not inspired, that it is harmful to people, and that one day the church will “come around” to the right side of history, or the right way of thinking. These same people think that the brethren are just out of touch, old white guys too. Policies change, doctrine does not. We either have a testimony that the brethren speak for the Lord (see D&C 1:38) or they are just making it up as they go along, in that case, we’re no better than any other church out there.
The Family Proclamation is doctrinal because its principles are supported by scripture, and the teachings of modern prophets (in the mouth of 2 or 3). It also supports the Plan of Salvation — that we come to earth to gain bodies, to receive the ordinances of salvation and to become like our Heavenly Father. When this was given in 1995, I’m sure most of us thought. “Well of course these principles are true.” And here we are in 2019 and every last thing mentioned in the Proclamation has been and is under attack. Our leaders truly are prophets, seers and revelators. We’d all be wise to listen to them and then go and do.
I think the issue is that when a father does something nurturing it’s often looked at as if it’s unexpected and special, but when a mother does the same thing it’s typically ignored because it’s expected. Hopefully acts like this normalize healthy fathering to the point people aren’t surprised that someone is fulfilling his role as a competent and loving father. Sexism cuts both ways and the old trope that men aren’t nurturing or competent to care for kids is harmful.
This feeling of unity we have about our prophets, seers, and revelators, and the doctrines they teach is a testimony to me that the Godhead is directly involved with the Church.