Staying close to your son

"Daddy how do you know so much?" Has your boy ever taken you by surprise with such a question? At, the time you probably felt so proud to be a father. These times when they are young and look at you with so much admiration is really the most ideal time to build that lasting close relationship with your son. Over the years probably no fault of your own your son's regard for you can begin to shrink. How can we stay close to our sons as he develops into a man?
As fathers we have some unique challenges that inhibit our ability to stay close to our sons. The first thing is lack of time. Fathers are expected to earn most of the income for the family. Often, their job requires that they be away from the home for most of the day. In some places, fathers spend very little time with their children. A recent survey in France, for example, found that fathers spend on average less than 12 minutes a day caring for their children. How can you expect to build a bond with your son spending less than 12 minutes a day caring for him? Time is essential to staying close with your son. Take the time to ask him about his day. Ask him followup questions so that he elaborate on certain events of the day. It may be a good idea to write down how much time a day you are spending with your son, you may be amazed at the results.
Another limitation of fathers is the lack of a good example. Some men have very little to do with their own father. The lack of affection and love from our own fathers causes us to have difficulty showing that love and affection for our sons. It is essential that we do not follow the bad examples that have been set before us. Make sure we remember the feelings we had not having a father and make sure your son does not experience those feelings of loneliness and despair caused by our lack of fathers.
As men we need to realize all of the flaws we have in ourselves and be sure not to let that carry over to our sons.  Most boys want to be like their fathers when they grow up in every way, so they will tend to follow suit on a lot of the things we do.  We need to make sure that our sons gain all of our strengths, but none of our weaknesses.  So many men today feel like, as long as their sons have a strong mother they will be ok.  That is not the case in any way, you would be surprised how a boy can develop the tendencies of their fathers without even being around them very much.  Staying close to your son is not an easy thing to do especially as they grow, but its important to find something that you and your son can do together to help tighten your bond and encourage their development into young men.