A father thinks out loud – Raising teenagers

Make the most of the moment

It’s the ‘moment,’ dads fail to see, as men define their own iconography of fatherhood. Dads are consumed with what will happen to them if they don’t prepare their sons for society. Dads get consumed by the mistakes they’ve made. Focusing on the future and the past keeps dads from realizing that it’s the moment that makes our children so angry.

We ignore their music; we fail to get them to appreciate ours. We get so obsessed with ‘my way’ or the ‘highway,’ that we get left behind to lick our wounds without realizing it’s really about being in the same car. Regardless of where it’s going, it’s about dads, sons and daughters being together.  So what do we do? Toward the end of the movie, "Finding Forrester," Forrester talks about friendship and families. He says, "Losing family obliges us to find our family, not always the family that is our blood. But the family that can become our blood." Think about that dads. Though actions speak louder than words, words hurt. So, choose your words carefully.