What being a Dad means?

Being a dad doesn’t mean you just lend out your sperm to give birth to a child, it doesn’t mean you just shell out your money for your daughter’s education, it doesn’t mean you just work all day and materialize your love towards your children, it doesn’t mean you are partial to one of your kids, and it certainly doesn’t mean you choose the gender of your child while it’s still in the womb. Being a dad means so much more than you can ever imagine. It means you take care of them through thick and thin. It means you are the other alternative when the mother fails to understand the child. Being a dad means the assurance you give to your children that they will never be left alone. Being a dad is too much to fit it all under 600 words.

Being a dad might make you the ‘strict’ parent, but it certainly doesn’t make your kids stop loving you right? Being a dad means shelling all your money out for your children without regret or hesitation. This obviously doesn’t include the times when you want to spoil them. Being a dad means raising your children the way you want them to be because any fool can be a ‘father’ but only a real man can be a daddy. Being a dad means you have to be a role model to your son and be someone he can look up to. Being a dad is treating your daughter like a princess and telling your sons to treat women likewise. Being a dad doesn’t mean you work all day and night, forgetting to spend time with your family, but being a dad means finding time to go for a vacation with your family when however busy your work schedule is. Being a dad doesn’t only mean being the parent with green pockets, but being a dad means teaching your children the value of 50 paise.

Well, what about those families who don’t have fathers or dads? If you’re thinking it isn’t necessary to have one, let me tell you how wrong you are because a mother can never fill the space of a father in your heart, she can probably try her best, but she can never bridge those memories that remain empty in your heart. Being a dad is so much more than the word itself. But don’t be depressed or disheartened if you don’t have one, for whatever reasons there may be because it’s probably your dad’s loss for he doesn’t know what he’s missing. However, every dad should remember that someday his son will follow his example and not his advice. So, being a dad is not an easy task, it takes hard work, stamina, creativity, maturity, compassion, patience and sacks of love. It’s not the pain on the outside that does the worst damage but it’s the effect that a bruise has on the inside that does the worst kind of damage. That’s why dads beware and remember what you’re talking to your children about. Maybe the greatest gift in your life isn’t your father, maybe your mother is trying her best to fulfill your needs of a father, or maybe you’re not even close to the new ‘man’ in your family, but yet, you have to accept the fact that if your father wouldn’t be there at that particular time and minute, you probably wouldn’t be here either. So, this Father’s Day, don’t buy your dad anything, just hold his hand, walk with him in a park, eat ice cream with him, or maybe just give him one warm hug and say how much you love him.

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About the Author: This article is contributed by Sonia David, our Intern. Sonia is a funky and sweet girl who is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Communicative English from Jyoti Nivas College, Autonomous in Bangalore. She loves writing, sketching and reading. She believes that women deserve much more and together, women can turn the world right side up!