HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Fathers! What good have fathers done for this world that is worth celebrating? How should the children of the world see their fathers in this world filled with so many crises? So, here we are, today is Father’s Day, and we get to reflect once again.

This is a day to recognize and honour fathers for the contribution they make towards the lives of their children. Here we talk about mineworkers, teachers, unemployed fathers, and all the fathers who make sacrifices to ensure that their children have a better life. They are often away from home, and this sometimes leads to people failing to understand their role in their children’s lives.

Fathers remain the major providers of their families, especially from a financial aspect, but that does not come easily. Some, as workers, experience abuse from their bosses at their workplaces, while others work overtime to bring the best to their children. Others risk their lives to support their children and families. Although in most cases their sacrifices are not acknowledged and appreciated, they still sacrifice a lot for their families to have food, education, clothing and all other basic needs.

We know that men are considered to have the primary responsibility to find work and bring money back home, for their children’s development. As a result, many of them have to leave for work almost on a daily basis. But has anyone ever reflected on how they feel inside when they have to leave home for work? When fathers have to leave for work, their feelings are taken lightly. For a father to leave his children behind and go to work means he must make sacrifices for the benefit of all. This must be acknowledged.

In other cases, the father is considered to be lazy when he returns home and sits down on the couch, but the stresses and frustrations that he would have experienced at work often not considered. We must always seek to see from their side as well and appreciate that they also need love and affection, and appreciate the sacrifices they make.

Some fathers are role models to their children. They show this by the love they have for their families and the sacrifices they make to keep their families together. The love fathers give to their children is unconditional.

We must also honour those fathers who have taken full responsibility for children that are not biological theirs. They play fatherly roles to them and have hustled for them like they do with their own.

As we are celebrating this Father’s Day, let us not forget that real fathers do not abuse but love, protect and provide for their families and children. Since parenting is usually a collaborative role between a father and a mother, we must encourage peaceful collaboration in the best interests of children.