Good fathers make a big difference in the lives of their children—bigger, in fact, than they might realize. Fathers often try to share with their children some of their hard-won wisdom—lessons about work, integrity, and perseverance. But most children will tell you they remember less of what their fathers say and more of what they do—who they are. How blessed are the many sons and daughters who can say, “I want to be just like my dad,” or “Whenever I’m not sure what to do, I think about my dad and try to follow his example.”
When they hear those words, fathers are touched but also terrified. Nothing makes a man aware of his weaknesses quite like fatherhood, and the only thing worse than fearing that his children won’t follow his example is realizing that they probably will. Of course, children know that their fathers aren’t perfect. In fact, that’s one lesson from good fathers that seems to stick especially well: children notice how their fathers handle mistakes—their own and their children’s.
Good fathers treat mistakes not as failures but as opportunities for growth. Even when things go wrong, they keep loving and caring and trying. They see potential in the present and hope in the future.
This perspective was captured well by Thomas Edison, who is reported to have said about the long process of inventing the light bulb: “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Charles Kettering, another well-known inventor, called failures “finger posts on the road to achievement.” A child who has learned this from the example of a father will go far in life, even if that life is marked with its share of “failures” pointing the way to success.
So it may help the self-conscious father to know that when his children say, “I want to be just like my dad,” they don’t mean they expect to be perfect. They might mean, instead, that they plan to grow and learn and carry on, even in the face of troubles and setbacks. And they hope that this lesson they learned from their father will also find its way into the lives of their children—for generations to come.
1. In Lynn G. Robbins, “Until Seventy Times Seven,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 21.
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June 21, 2020 Just Like Dad
Broadcast Number 4,736
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Richard Elliott
Host
Lloyd Newell
O Clap Your Hands
John Rutter
The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare
Dmitri Bortniansky; arr. Mack Wilberg
Simple Gifts
Shaker song; arr. Richard Elliott
Turn Around
Harry Belafonte, Alan Greene, and Malvina Reynolds; arr. Michael Davis
Father
R. Ross Boothe
Sing!
Words and Music by David Willcocks
Based on Widor’s Toccata, from Organ Symphony no. 5