What it takes to be a dad.

I have an old habit of ripping pages out of magazine's I'm reading when I find something that interests me, thinking that one day, I'll go back and read it or give to someone who might also find it interesting.

Usually, I'll forget about it and it just ends up piling up and creating clutter that I need to go through.  Vowing to stop cluttering up my files with these tear outs, I now use the online version of saving 'tear outs' using a great service called del.icio.us, which was acquired by Yahoo last month.

del.icio.us lets you keep links to your favorite articles, sites or blogs and share them with friends, family, and colleagues. Because it's online, they're accessible by any computer you log on with and viewable by anyone you want to share your links with.

In any event, the reason I'm writing about this is that I while going through this "clutter" I stumbled on an ad that I had torn out from Esquire magazine in September of 2002, a year before my daughter Andie was born.

It's an ad from the National Fatherhood Initiative and the page is divided in half, vertically. One side says "What is takes to be a father" and the other side "What it takes to be a dad"

I've retyped the ad below because I couldn't find it on NFI's Web site to link to.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Now that I have two kids, the ad has extra special meaning to me.

What it takes to be a father.

What it takes to be a dad

1. Read to your children.
2. Keep your promises.
3. Let your children help with household projects.
4. Spend time one-on-one with each child.
5. Tell your children about your own childhood.
6. Go to the zoo, museums, ballgames as a family.
7. Set a good example.
8. Use good manners.
9. Help your children with their homework.
10. Show your children lots of warmth and affection.
11. Set clear, consistent limits.
12. Consider how your decisions will affect your children.
13. Listen to your children.
14. Know your children's friends.
15. Take your children to work.
16. Open a savings account for college education.
17. Resolve conflicts quickly.
18. Take your children to your place of worship.
19. Make a kite together.
20. Fly a kite together.
21. You get the idea.

I know most of them are common sense and I'm blessed because my parents already taught me most of these by example (see #7). But I was struck because I have never have seen such a great list in one place. Do you have any more to add?

Comments

[David Rosenberg]

Steve, life can move at such a fast pace that one sometimes forgets to slow down and take some time to fly a kite with their kid. Thanks for the retype of the ad.