The pencil sharpeners in the classroom all have two things in common. They make an awful noise, and they chew up pencils instead of sharpening them. I was substituting in a classroom and found that I could tolerate the sharpener no longer.

“Why are you working on the pencil sharpener?” asked a teenage young lady. “Cause I’m a dad, and dads fix things.” I growled. “Doesn’t your dad fix things?

“No. My dad is nowhere around.”

I dropped my head and tried to stop my heart from dropping out of my chest. What a dumb thing for me to say! What are the stats on single-parent homes, with dads absent? More than half? Or worse since grad school in the Nineties?

Children need two parents in order to develop well, A two-parent family can make up for a lot of parenting shortcomings in the house. Dads who try to fix things reinforce the message that not everything in life is disposable, not toys, nor appliances and certainly not kids and spouses. Dads who show up for their kids activities build confidence and self-esteem in their kids. And, dads who listen to their families are the greatest dads. Everyone needs to be heard. The Good Book states “Let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (Found in James 1:19.)

Be a great dad. Or become one. You can start anytime. Now is good.

Happy Father’s Day! Bill Whaley is minister of the Church of Christ at Little in Seminole, Oklahoma.