Look At Your Father
Illustration★★★★Lewis Yablonski tells of his experiences with his parents in his formative years. Sitting around the dinner table, he listened to his mother say things like, “Look at your father. His shoulders are bent down, he is such a failure. He doesn’t have the courage to get a better job or make more money.
He is such a beaten man.” Since his father never defended himself, the author says that he and his two brothers grew up thinking that their father was truly a wimp. They never noticed his virtues or his hard work to support himself. He concludes by saying, “My overall research clearly supports that the mother is the basic filter and has enormous significance on the father-son relationship.”
How much better for a wife to praise her husband, to point out his strengths and to position him in his children’s eyes as someone with courage and principle. Since raising children is so difficult, every mother could benefit from the influence of a strong man in the lives of her children. She would do well to contribute to their image of him as a leader.
The point
A mother's words about a father deeply shape children's perception of him. Mothers wield enormous influence in forming father-child relationships and determining how fathers are viewed.