Fatherhood is meant to be a special event. It proves you are virile and it provides you the opportunity to shape the life of a human being – into what you want. Children are like the modelling clay they play with in school. You can turn that clay into whatever shape you want, from a beautiful creature into a monster.
However, the most amazing thing about clay is that you can destroy whatever you created and start all over again, with the same ball of clay. Thus, if you have been absent father and you’ve ended up creating a monster, you can start all over again and begin to reshape that monster into a beautiful being.
The reverse similarly applies. There are fathers who started off as keen and active participators in the lives of their children but, for one reason or another, eventually slacked off, leaving the children, often in their teens, to their own devises, which can lead to disaster.
Sexual harassment
Whether we like it or not, fathers play a significant role in a child’s life. They shape and mould a child’s character and largely influence how they view life in future, their aspirations, goals and relationships with the opposite sex and with children.
A father’s impact begins from birth and it is crucially important that men realise this; that whether they are in the child’s mother’s life or not, their direct relationship with a child is more important.
On Sunday, the world celebrated fathers, mainly the active ones with a positive influence on their children and, thus, the society at large. For those whose influence has been negative or negligent, it’s not too late to decide to change that. When the wise men said, mtoto umleavyo ndivyo akuavyo (a child picks the traits they were taught when growing up), they knew what they were saying. Commit to change the face of the future by shaping the present now.
To continue in the spirit of honouring fathers, here are a few poems to buoy to celebrate fatherhood:
What makes a Dad
God took the strength of a mountain
