To say the least, I was at first shocked to read the headline, Baby Ate Cocaine Dad Left Nearby. According to the Associated Press a father from Ravenna, Ohio was sentenced to one year in prison for endangering his daughter, who was six-months-old at the time of the incident. He evidently stashed his illegal drug in her baby swing and she ate some of it. The mother noticed the white powder around the daughter’s mouth and took her to the hospital for treatment.
I take this as a wake-up call to fathers from God. He is calling us to protect our children. Obviously, this man carelessly endangered his child, but what about us father’s possibly putting our children at risk in very subtle ways. I believe it is not enough for us dads to house, feed, cloth, and educate our children. We dads need to empower our kids to turn from evil and do what is good and right, and to have the best possible harmonious relationship with them as we can.
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported recently in a survey which suggests “....most teenagers find it easier to talk about drugs with their mothers than with their fathers, and those who don’t get along with their fathers are at far greater risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs....” The survey reported that “teens in two-parent families who have fair or poor relationships with their fathers are 68 percent more likely to use drugs than those in average families.”
Dads, we can to have a relationship with our children that fosters openness and care. We can be responsibile to do what is in their best interest, safety and welfare.
We dads can be emotionally and spiritually connected with our children. “ ’Too many fathers are just AWOL in their kids lives,’ said Joseph Califano, the research center’s chairman. ‘They’re not there to help with homework, and kids don’t go to them with important problems.’ " We can best share with them helpful lessons from life and God’s Word by maintaining a positive relationship.
Jesus Christ said, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:11-12).
Fathers, even though none of us always hit the mark, we can still give our children good things. Let us
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