Give Dad A Break!

-strong, is rarely vulnerable
-has his act together
-has endless time for his family
-is a good provider, works hard
-knows exactly what to say to fix things
-owns up to his shortcomings and works on them
-is a good role model to his children
-puts his family's care and safety above his own
-and sooo many more ideals when we generalize what a father is to be.

There is many issues that surface when we look to the ideal to compare to people... especially people we care about and are supposed to care about us.

1.) Ideal means different things to each of us.
- What standard of ideal you judge your father from is not going to be the same standard he uses to judge himself. Therefore, without mountains of communication from both parties (and we know fathers are known to be communication enthusiasts - 😂 haha) no common ground will ever be found and friction will always be present because of these conflicting standards.

2.)Look at the fathers that you know closely... how many of them honestly live up to your own ideal of what a father should be?
- It is unlikely that any of them do very well if your ideals are similar to the ones listed above. Ideals are not realistic for humans. We are not capable to be and maintain being everything to everyone. Fathers are human too. If you look at that list of ideals or even your own, you will find that some of your ideals even contradict each other. It creates an impossible standard.

Ideals are fine things to have and to consistently strive towards, but we must never judge ourselves or others by them. They will fail every time we do. It is not sustainable and no one is perfect, no matter how much they try to be perfect they will never attain it. Perfect is a moving target. There is always going to be a more perfect version to strive for so it will forever be out of reach.

It is those who try to do their best that are the biggest of award winning fathers! And their best, does not always have to mean that they do well.

For Father's Day today, give the father in your life what he wants most. Give him a break! Allow him to be human too and know that when he doesn't do everything like he wishes he could, like you want him to do it, that he still loves you anyhow. Like everyone, he makes choices and they have consequences and sometimes the best intentions will backfire spectacularly.

People mess up, people will not always live up to your ideal, but that has nothing to do with how much they do or don't care about you most of the time.

If you know a father who does his best, whatever that looks like... tell him that you see it. Tell him that you are proud that he is there, showing up, doing his best the only way he knows how.

Happy Father's Day!

We love you dads!! Thanks for everything you do for us.

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