Steps to enjoy happy parenting as a dad or father!

What makes a happy dad or father? What are men supposed to do that gives them true and lasting happiness? Societal expectations and how we are raised determines our default ways of behaving and thinking.

Even today with working women becoming a norm, most men think that earning money and being the breadwinner is their primary and only job as a good dad. Hence, many absentee fathers think it is their duty to be out and away and society sometimes approves of it. However, what it is the child needs from their father? Is it money, paying mortgage, bills, gifts and nice dinners. What happens to a child who is left without a father's love? Is love important?

Happy Mothers day is synonymous to gratitude and giving. What about Fathers day? Is Fathers day associated with bashing, releasing anger and forgiving? Yes, sometimes it is. Most fathers can enjoy fatherhood and be the best dad and closest to their children if they make it a priority. It can be lot of fun to be a happy and entertaining dad.

Some simple steps which dads or fathers can take to enjoy family life, to be a good dad and make the most of their fatherhood:

1. Fathers play with your children. Historically, fathers are associated with strictness and discipline. If children are having problems with schools, dads come into picture. However, the new dads can take a new role of being team player and entertainer. The joy of simple pleasures is beyond cars, material possessions. Throw your expectations out of the window and just learn to enjoy being a playmate with your kid. It will increase your quality of life beyond words and lift you in the eyes of your children and mother too.

2. Fathers talk to your children. Fathers have a tendency to conserve energy and speak minimal when it comes to children. Talking out your emotions, simple stories, jokes can light up the atmosphere of the whole family. It can make everybody feel that you are a family member and part of them. In times of trouble, children will speak to you and feel closer to you. Even when they grow up, they will still remember you. Instead of just talking to mother and hanging phone down, they will look forward to speak to you in your golden years.

3. Fathers take time to understand your children from their perspective. Human beings, specially dads, feel that they know it all and need to give their most precious, best advice to their children. However, children just need the opposite. They want somebody to listen to them, understand them and finally accept them. It needs patience and time to understand your children. However, the rewards are abundant. It will reduce or take away the problem of teen rebellion and heated arguments from your coming years and give you much needed respect in golden years.

Fathers need to choose which path they want to follow. Earning money can feed children but not their minds and heart. It takes small steps to become a good dad and the results of such simple efforts are amazing. It could be a daily walk with your children in evening or taking swimming laps with them in neighborhood swimming pool. It just requires us to think out of the box and go beyond our old thinking patterns. It is a choice that each father need to take that will ultimately determine his own future and destiny.