Appreciating the Dad you have; not the one in the news

Dad is a truck driver. He wants to come to your ball game, but he’s on the road, just doing what it takes to make the family work.

Dad is an old-fashioned guy. He hears he is supposed to express his feelings more, but he feels more comfortable being strong and silent.

Dad and Mom are divorced, but Dad pays his child support and he comes to get you on time.

On the one hand, Dad hears he has to be better. On the other hand, even good Dads seem to be blamed for being bad Dads.

But maybe it is important to appreciate Dad, not for the image held up in the news, but for who he really is.

Some of that comes with age.

According to research firm onepoll.com, children don’t start appreciating their parents until age 22. At least 17 percent don’t see what parents have done for them until they go to college or live on their own.

One result of the study showed that 78 percent of children don’t understand the sacrifices their parents made for them until they settle down and have children themselves.

In 1928, Frank H. Cheley, founder of summer camps for kids, wrote this about his father:
“I could not understand how any father could deny a single request of his very own son regardless of whether the request would be good for me or not. I could not see why boys had to go to bed or why they could not sleep just as long in the morning as they cared to. I could not understand why I had to cut the wood on Saturday when I had planned to go fishing, or why if he wanted a great big lawn, he shouldn’t cut it himself after ten hours of labor on a brick wall.”

This Father’s Day, if you want to thank your Dad, thank him for the happy things he has done.

Maybe you remember him reading a story in his scary voice and silly voice.

Or the time he came to your defense — or didn’t.

You probably remember the time he brought you something special after that business trip.

Or the time he interrupted an errand because you guys passed a go-cart track.

You can’t go wrong thanking Dad for the memories he made. Gratitude, GK Chesterton once wrote, “is happiness doubled by wonder.”