Happy Father’s Day

To fathers who fulfill their role, stepfathers who take on the arduous task of loving their stepchildren like they’re own, to godfathers who provide spiritual guidance, grandfathers who spoil their granddaughters, and to countless uncles and family friends serving as role models to young boys and girls.

On Friday, President Obama held a fatherhood summit and town hall with a number of fathers from across the country, some celebrity, some everyday, but all committed to fatherhood.  Below are excerpts from President Obama’s op-ed  in Parade Magazine on his most important role – as a father.  These messages were echoed by many fathers at Friday’s summit.

On absent fathers and the effects it leaves on children:

My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told. And while I was lucky to have two wonderful grandparents who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me, I still felt the weight of his absence throughout my childhood.

As an adult, working as a community organizer and later as a legislator, I would often walk through the streets of Chicago’s South Side and see boys marked by that same absence—boys without supervision or direction or anyone to help them as they struggled to grow into men. I identified with their frustration and disengagement—with their sense of having been let down.  

In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence—both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference. 

On the role of fathers in today’s environment:

As fathers, we need to be involved in our children’s lives not just when it’s convenient or easy, and not just when they’re doing well—but when it’s difficult and thankless, and they’re struggling. That is when they need us most.

And it’s not enough to just be physically present. Too often, especially during tough economic times like these, we are emotionally absent: distracted, consumed by what’s happening in our own lives, worried about keeping our jobs and paying our bills, unsure if we’ll be able to give our kids the same opportunities we had.

The fundamental duty of fathers:

…to show their children, by example, the kind of people they want them to become. 

Read the entire op-ed.

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