You can't be a real man if you don't look out for your kids. They need you.
Fathers0My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass'; 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising boys.'
Fathers0Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it.
Fathers0With sons and fathers, there's an inexplicable connection and imprint that your father leaves on you.
Fathers0I love my mother and father. The older I get, the more I value everything that they gave me.
Fathers, Mother0Being a husband is for me as big a priority as being a father.
Marriage, Fathers0When I was a little girl I remember thinking men were these beautiful creatures created to love an protect the women of this world. Turns out I was wrong. I just had an amazing father.
Fathers0Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to.
Fathers0I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
Fathers0I can't stress how much my daughter is an inspiration to stay sober. When I come home and she opens those big blue eyes at me, it's the most amazing feeling I could ever feel.
Fathers, Addiction0My dad's the one who's always been there; he's my hero, you could say. Even when he was working, he'd do anything for me. He's been the biggest influence in my life.
Fathers0A man is not complete until he has seen the baby he has made.
Fathers, Birth0My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.
Fathers0I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
Teachers, Fathers0There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.
Children & Childhood, Fathers, Parents, Mother0America needs more fathers taking an active role in their children's lives.
Fathers0I think my mom put it best. She said, 'Little girls soften their daddy's hearts.'
Children & Childhood, Fathers0A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms, when his hands are empty.
Children & Childhood, Fathers0To my dear beautiful daughter,
I'm writing you a letter. That's right, a good old-fashioned letter. It's a lost art, really. I have a confession to make. I didn't like you very much at first. You were just this annoying, little blob. You smelled nice. Most of the time. But you didn't seem to have much interest in me. Which I, of course, found vaguely insulting.
It was just you and your mom against the world... funny how some things never change. So I cruised along, doing my thing, acting the fool, not really understanding how being a parent changes you. And I don't remember the exact moment everything changed. I just know that it did.
One minute I was impenetrable. Nothing could touch me. The next, my heart was somehow beating outside my chest, exposed to the elements. Loving you has been the most profound, intense, painful experience of my life. In fact, it's been almost too much to bear. As your father, I made a silent vow to protect you from the world, never realizing I was the one who would end up hurting you the most.
When I flash forward, my heart breaks. Mostly because I can't imagine you speaking of me with any sort of pride. How could you? Your father is a child in a man's body. He cares for nothing and everything at the same time. Noble in thought, weak in action. Something has to change. Something has to give. It's getting dark... too dark to see.
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
Children & Childhood, Fathers0