By Janie Beharelle, 50 Plus N&V Reader
Several years ago my husband and I were cleaning our basement one sunny summer day. We decided to take a break from that task when my husband noticed the kids across the street were selling Kool-Aid at a makeshift stand. Two boys and a girl around ten years old were sitting on their lawn chairs anxiously awaiting customers.
Although my husband is not a big fan of that popular summer drink, he ventured across the street to obtain a 75-cent glass of “red sugar,” I asked him why he was buying a drink he wasn’t necessarily fond of. My husband, father of two and grandfather of five, answered as I thought he might.
“If ever you see a Kool-Aid stand, you have to stop. “That’s the unwritten rule.” He recalled our two children trying to earn a little money at their own stands when they were young.
That is the kind of father my children were lucky enough to grow up with as they journeyed through life. By no means was he perfect or did he do everything right; but when it mattered most, he taught our children about the values that build character. Sometimes they learned from the mistakes that he had made and he passed those lessons on to them.
Often the role of the father in a family is downplayed. It seems that at times the mothers of the world get all of the credit for the child rearing. In many cases the mothers are the one who have that important job. However, Fathers are a significant force in shaping the character of a child. Their importance can’t be measured solely by dollars and cents.
During the years we were raising our two children through their most difficult times, my husband was the glue that held our family together and stood strong in the face of adversity. As the mother, I at times wanted to take the easy way out when it came to discipline. However, my husband never wavered during the really important issues and followed through with our rules.
Our son, Patrick, was a challenge at times as a young adolescent. He wouldn’t always do his chores and for a while hung around another boy who constantly got into trouble. Since our son loved playing baseball, my husband used that as a tool of discipline. If Patrick got into trouble, there would be no baseball game that week. It worked exceptionally well because of our son’s love of the game.
There is really no magic formula that makes men good fathers. I believe some of it is passed down from generation to generation. Fatherhood seems to come easy to some men and not so easy to others.
When you know the significance of that purchase of Kool-Aid from those neighborhood kids and its connection to being a father; you realize the importance of one simple act of kindness. So Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads who make it a rule to stop at Kool-Aid stands.
