Single Fathers Step up

Single dads are becoming more common these days. Did you know that since 1980 the number of single dads in the US has doubled to nearly 1.6 million? Single dads are growing 6 percent a year-that's double the rate for single moms. That means almost 15 percent of us men are running a dad-only household. Being a single dad is a tough and challenging position to be in. Its important to maintain a positive attitude and not let the pressure bother you. The times that you are with your kids, make sure that you make time to get to know each other.  Single dads are sometimes looked down upon since some people believe that fathers cannot show the same love and affection as mothers, which isn't always the case.  As a single father it's important that you try extra hard to break that stigma of over aggressive fathers since tough love isn't the only solution.  We recently read an article about All-Star basketball star Dwayne Wade in which he spoke about his road to being a successful single parent.  He went on to explain how despite all of his success he still found it hard to be away from his children.  Dwayne Wade said that it was important that he be a constant in his 2 sons lives because he himself knew the difficulties of being a boy growing up with just a woman.  There are certain things that a woman just cannot replace with a boys father.  He explained how he always wanted a man in his life to teach him basic things that fathers show their sons such as tying a tie and becoming a man.  These were things he felt was important that he showed his sons since he saw a similar situation building with his kids as he had with his father.  He thought that being there for our kids are most important in the minority community since we are the fathers that are lacking in our children's lives.

One of the best things I thought he mentioned in his article was the fact that it's important to have open and good relationships with our children's mothers because it's tough for children to grow up knowing that mommy and daddy have a rocky relationship.  Fathers we need to make sure that we keep a honest relationship with our children's mothers, because our children need that.  It's nothing more precious to them then to see their mother and father get along.  If anything this will at least allow our sons to understand the importance of respecting women in their lives.  As fathers there is no better feeling then seeing our children succeed and be happy.  Lets make sure that we do all we can to stay in our children's lives as positive role models.  Our children look up to their mothers and fathers first as inspiration, so be sure to inspire them every time you get a chance.

For Dwyane Wade's entire "Newsweek"article here is the link:  D Wade Interview