Stand firm. Bow your neck. These are two of the phrases my brother and I remember our dad saying to us when we were still living at home. Kevin, my brother, sent me an email this week with the “top ten sayings from Pops”.
Most of the sayings on the list were pretty standard fatherly stuff like, “Read everything you can get your hands on.” Some of the sayings applied only to us, since we worked for him at his radio station: “When public safety is at stake, interrupt all programming.” Some were downright funny, like “Don't go in there; you might walk up on an alien!”
But Kevin’s number one saying was “stand firm.” That’s some good advice, and if I recall, he said it when we were teenagers. He was admonishing us to take a stand for our beliefs, our rights, our convictions – and to stick with it and not crumble or waffle. Kevin and I are in our mid forties and I hope we are still taking that advice.
My number one saying from Dad is “bow your neck.” He said this to me the day I drove home from Texas A&M after only one day. I didn’t think I could do it and needed him to be strong and send me back down there – which is exactly what he did. When he said it, I got the picture in my mind of putting my head down and shoving forward. The advice could be for facing any difficult task. You clinch your fists, bow your neck, and push ahead with all of your strength.
I went back to Aggieland the next day and have the ring and degree to prove it. If you know me, you know I suffer from homesickness. For some reason, it always takes us two days to drive to the mountains, but we get home in just one day. Once we cross the Texas border, we’re nearly home, even if it’s six hundred miles away!
What struck me as interesting about Kevin’s list and my addition is that Dad said these things after we were pretty much grown. Dads, if you think your children need you when they are young, I’m here to tell you they need you just as much as they get older. Your help and advice will never no longer be needed.
It is terribly important for young children to have their dads around, but that importance never wanes. Experts say children’s personalities are pretty much set by the time they are seven, so dads need to be there in the formative years. But pre-teens face difficult social issues and they need their dads to be alert. Then, teenagers are forming decisions that will affect the rest of their lives – and you guessed it, they need their dads to be part of that.
Often, it is during those teen years that the communication breaks down between fathers and children, but that is a tragedy because kids need their dads as much as ever. To say dads are no longer needed is like picking a wheel on a car and saying it is not as important as the others. Children need their dads during every phase of their lives.
To this day, I hear my dad telling me to bow my neck when the going gets tough, and I must admit I’ve already used that phrase on my own son. I want my children to stand firm on their convictions and I want them to bow their necks and face the challenges of life. And I want to be right behind them when they do.
Most of the sayings on the list were pretty standard fatherly stuff like, “Read everything you can get your hands on.” Some of the sayings applied only to us, since we worked for him at his radio station: “When public safety is at stake, interrupt all programming.” Some were downright funny, like “Don't go in there; you might walk up on an alien!”
But Kevin’s number one saying was “stand firm.” That’s some good advice, and if I recall, he said it when we were teenagers. He was admonishing us to take a stand for our beliefs, our rights, our convictions – and to stick with it and not crumble or waffle. Kevin and I are in our mid forties and I hope we are still taking that advice.
My number one saying from Dad is “bow your neck.” He said this to me the day I drove home from Texas A&M after only one day. I didn’t think I could do it and needed him to be strong and send me back down there – which is exactly what he did. When he said it, I got the picture in my mind of putting my head down and shoving forward. The advice could be for facing any difficult task. You clinch your fists, bow your neck, and push ahead with all of your strength.
I went back to Aggieland the next day and have the ring and degree to prove it. If you know me, you know I suffer from homesickness. For some reason, it always takes us two days to drive to the mountains, but we get home in just one day. Once we cross the Texas border, we’re nearly home, even if it’s six hundred miles away!
What struck me as interesting about Kevin’s list and my addition is that Dad said these things after we were pretty much grown. Dads, if you think your children need you when they are young, I’m here to tell you they need you just as much as they get older. Your help and advice will never no longer be needed.
It is terribly important for young children to have their dads around, but that importance never wanes. Experts say children’s personalities are pretty much set by the time they are seven, so dads need to be there in the formative years. But pre-teens face difficult social issues and they need their dads to be alert. Then, teenagers are forming decisions that will affect the rest of their lives – and you guessed it, they need their dads to be part of that.
Often, it is during those teen years that the communication breaks down between fathers and children, but that is a tragedy because kids need their dads as much as ever. To say dads are no longer needed is like picking a wheel on a car and saying it is not as important as the others. Children need their dads during every phase of their lives.
To this day, I hear my dad telling me to bow my neck when the going gets tough, and I must admit I’ve already used that phrase on my own son. I want my children to stand firm on their convictions and I want them to bow their necks and face the challenges of life. And I want to be right behind them when they do.
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