A Bittersweet Day: Happy Birthday Daughter!

Today is a bittersweet day in the life of this dad.

It is my daughter’s 8th birthday.

Slowly but surely, my little babydoll is growing into a young woman. A beautiful young woman both inside and out.

I kid her that I’m not letting her turn 8, but that she has to stay 7 for many more years.

She knows I’m having fun with her, and so she continuously reminds me that 8 is her new number.

But inside, I really do wish I could somehow press a “pause” button to keep my children from growing up so I can continue to cherish the few short years they are young.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, fellow dad.

But since there is no such button, we dads get to shoulder the ongoing challenges, responsibilities, adventures, pain, and joy of fatherhood as our children continue their growth upward toward adulthood.

Singer/songwriter Stephen Curtis Chapman has a song called “Cinderella” that is appropriate for me to hear today. He wrote it one night after getting his 4 year old daughters to bed and then reflecting on his 21 year old daughter who had since “left the nest” of living at home.

The music video for this song is so impactful, I decided to post it at the FamilyDads website.

If you have a daughter, you will appreciate its inspiring message.


Watch the music video here.

If you know other dads who have daughters, forward this link to them so they too can watch this music video and be reminded that one day the clock will strike midnight for them too, and their “Cinderella” will be gone.

Blessings to you and your family,
Joey Watkins
Founder, FamilyDads

P.S. – Need ideas for nurturing your relationship with your daughter? Click Here

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Darth Vader – The Best Dad In The Galaxy?

Here are some Jedi tips on fatherhood from none other than Darth Vader. If you are a Star Wars fan like me, you will find this video humorous. If not, don’t bother watching because you won’t appreciate the humor. :)



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Fatherhood Video Interview With John Eldredge

I just created a new webpage of a video interview with John Eldredge that I highly recommend all men watch. Click here to watch. In this interview, John talks about several critical areas that we dads need to hear:

- The two fundamental questions every little boy is asking his dad

- The two core needs of every daughter that her daddy can meet

- Healing from the wounds we received from our own father

- The power a father has in the lives of his children

- God wants to be our father

- How to build true masculinity in your son

- The stages of a man’s life as illustrated by men in scripture

John is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, and counselor. He is well-known for his popular books Wild At Heart, Way of The Wild Heart, and You Have What It Takes.




John Eldredge The Way Of The Wild Heart   John Eldredge You Have What It Takes   John Eldredge Wild At Heart

Your purchase of these books at www.DadResources.com
provides direct financial support to FamilyDads so we can reach more dads
with these critical messages of fatherhood.

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John McCain or Barak Obama

by Joey Watkins, Thursday, September 4, 2008

In less than 60 days, many people across the United States will go to their local polling location and cast their vote for the next U.S. President. Predictably, the news media is fixated on John McCain and Barak Obama. Many, if not most, people look to the President as the individual who will solve the pressing problems facing the country.

However, there is a FAR more important and powerful leader than the winner of the upcoming presidential election.

That leader is YOU and me, Dad!

As dads, we are the most powerful person in our children’s lives. What do I mean by that? I’m talking about the level of INFLUENCE we have with them.

We influence them with our words, our actions, the time we spend with them, the time we don’t spend with them, what we teach them, what we model to them, how we relate to our children and our wife, our attitude toward our work, what we spend money on, what we do with our “free time,” and so on.

We have this unique influence JUST BECAUSE WE ARE THEIR DAD.

And it is FAR greater influence than the President has — both in this life and for eternity.

Dads who are committed to leading their families, demonstrating true loving fatherhood, praying for their spouse and children regularly, and instilling their values, faith, skills, and character into their children are the foundation for solving any country’s problems.

John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barak Obama, Joe Biden, or any other politician is NOT the answer… nor the problem.

Your thoughts? Encourage and challenge other dads with your comments below.

What A Daughter Needs From Her Dad book coverWhat A Daughter Needs From Her Dad

To encourage and guide you in raising your daughters,
Michael Farris (a father of five daughters himself!) addresses issues common in all families with daughters: friends, dating, personal appearance, and preparing for the roles she’ll have as a woman. Michael Farris challenges us dads to not take lightly our critical role in training our daughters for life’s challenges — in ways that only we dads can. Learn More and Order

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Boys

If you have a son, grandson, work with boys, teach a boys Bible study, or know another dad who has boys, then this message is for you…

As part of the transition to manhood, boys desperately need their dads or other adult men in their lives to teach them about work, and to develop healthy attitudes toward work and a willingness to work for God’s glory.

The best way to do this is apprenticeship, where a boy “shadows” his dad or other adult men and learns about work and character by example.

An excellent resource I am using to teach my own sons about work is “Created For Work: Practical Insights For Young Men.”

The author, a dad himself and a carpenter by trade, tells inspiring stories from his own life and work — real-world stories that fascinate boys.

He uses these stories along with Scripture to reveal truths about diligence, initiative, honesty, promptness, responsibility, and many more aspects of character and work ethic.

Two of my sons favorite chapters are “Dirt” and “The Donut Race.” “Dirt” is about a guy who never lets dirt get in the way of completing his work. “The Donut Race” is about two boys who race each other to a donut shop one morning before school. One boy obeys the traffic laws, while the other one speeds. It’s an effective and humorous lesson on haste and also teaches how hasty people miss God because God is never in a hurry.

Having personally read this book with my own son when he was 8, and now re-reading it again with him at age 10, I give “Created For Work” two thumbs up as an excellent way for dads to spend quality time with their sons as well as impress on their minds key character qualities about work through reading together fun “guy-stories” and discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

If you have a son, grandson, or know a boy or group of boys between the ages of 8 and 16, this book is highly recommended as an interactive resource. It is also an excellent gift idea for a boy or dad!

Learn More or Order This Resource

Created For Work Book Cover

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