From a Dad to His Kids…Passing on What Matters Most

About a month or so ago just as the season for grass cutting hit full swing here in Indiana, we tried to start up our lawn mower and it wouldn’t cooperate. Nothing we did seemed to work. And this was our “new” lawnmower, which is a gently used mower given to us by a family member because our other mower kept breaking down.

So, our grass began to rise (as I’m sure our neighbor’s frustration did along with it). Then one day it happened. Two dads, our dads, converged on our house with lawn equipment and tools. My dad and my dad-in-law drove over an hour to our house with the intent of not only taking care of our grass, but getting our lawn equipment up and running.

First, they didn’t want their kids (and grandkids) to have knee high grass. But second, they both love to work in the yard, and to tinker with things. 🙂

The greatest things of fatherhood

One of the greatest things of being a father is passing on things that are important and fun to you, onto your children. As you can see from the photo, working in the yard, and tinkering with “toys” is fun to them! They went to work, or I should say they began to play.

My father-in-law before we could finish saying, “hey pops, glad to see you,” was mowing our back yard. While he was doing that my dad began to trim the edges. In a matter of minutes, it seemed, our weeds were cut, edges trimmed, grass mowed, and grass clippings blown away. It was like an attack (in a good way) on our lawn and landscape.

Then they brought out their tools and equipment and went to work on repairing our lawn mowers (my dad brought his to mow the lawn since we had two dysfunctional mowers). By the time it was all said and done we had a nicely manicured lawn, two working mowers, and two happy dads!

The joys of fatherhood

It was a joy to spend time with both of our dads doing something they enjoy and definitely find important. I see this is one of the great joys of fatherhood. As I reflected on this it had me thinking of the other ways or things we pass on to our children, which were things we enjoyed as a kid and/or are very important to us.

One of my favorites today is watching old cartoons and shows that I enjoyed as a kid while growing up in the 80s and early 90s. Watching cartoons isn’t as serious as lawn care and tinkering with lawn equipment, but it’s something I enjoyed and my kids now enjoy. And thanks to services like Netflix we enjoy them together today!

Here are several of our favorite “old school” to “new school” shows that my kids and I enjoy from time to time.

1. Tranformers
2. Voltron
3. G.I. Joe
4. Spiderman
5. Pac-Man
6. The Incredible Hulk
7. The Justice League

We don’t just enjoy shows from my childhood, but we also enjoy other things I enjoyed as a kid and things I find important that I hope my kids will as well. Here are a few of those things.

1. Coaching/playing little league sports
2. Visiting places you vacationed or spent time at as a kid
3. Passing on a trophy, award, or memento
4. Spending time together as a family
5. Being an entrepreneur
6. Watching our favorite sports teams
7. Attending church together and praying together

The things we pass onto and enjoy with our kids as fathers can range from material things, lessons learned, or just fun activities. No matter what, they are something to be cherished. So, especially today, and everyday enjoy the time with your kids, and if your father is still living enjoy whatever time you get with him.

Happy Father’s Day!!!

[reminder]What is one thing that is important or fun to you that you get to enjoy with your kids today?[/reminder]