Fatherhood

People always say you are going to marry someone like your dad. Growing up, I was like, no I'm not! But as I've grown up I've realized a lot of the qualities I look for in a guy are the qualities my dad possesses.

Father's also play a very important role in the family. My father is one of the most hardworking people I know.

In the talk given by L. Tom Perry, "Fatherhood, an Eternal Calling, I loved how he gave a list of the Roles of a father. I would like to share them with you:


"1. The father is the head in his family.

“Fatherhood is leadership, the most important kind of leadership. It has always been so; it always will be so. Father, with the assistance and counsel and encouragement of your eternal companion, you preside in the home. It is not a matter of whether you are most worthy or best qualified, but it is a matter of [divine] appointment.” ⁷

“You preside at the meal table, at family prayer. You preside at family home evening; and as guided by the Spirit of the Lord, you see that your children are taught correct principles. It is your place to give direction relating to all of family life.

“You give father’s blessings. You take an active part in establishing family rules and discipline. As a leader in your home you plan and sacrifice to achieve the blessing of a unified and happy family. To do all of this requires that you live a family-centered life.”  

2. The father is a teacher.

President Joseph F. Smith’s counsel applies today: “Do not let your children out to specialists … , but teach them by your own precept and example, by your own fireside. Be a specialist yourself in the truth.” 

3. The father is the temporal provider.

President Ezra Taft Benson expressed it clearly: “The Lord has charged men with the responsibility to provide for their families in such a way that the wife is allowed to fulfill her role as mother in the home. … Sometimes the mother works outside of the home at the encouragement, or even insistence, of her husband … [for the] convenience[s] that the extra income can buy. Not only will the family suffer in such instances, brethren, but your own spiritual growth and progression will be hampered.” ¹⁴

Fathers, by divine decree, you are to preside over your family units. This is a sobering responsibility and the most important one you will ever assume, for it is an eternal responsibility. You place the family in its proper priority. It’s the part of your life that will endure beyond the grave. I testify that the following statement is true:

“The position which men occupy in the family, and especially those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, is one of first importance and should be clearly recognized and maintained in the order and with the authority which God conferred upon man in placing him at the head of his household.... "

These excerpts from L. Tom Perry couldn't have been stated any better. These are the roles of the father and every father should live by these. I can look at these and put my Fathers name engraved in these. My father has taught me so much and I know that I want a man that has all the qualities he possesses in a future husband one day.