"Honor Thy Father": Key Principles and Practices in Fathering

I also really enjoyed reading this chapter. My dad is an amazing father! He has provided for my family and we have never had to go without. He is an extremely hard worker and I love him a lot. I hope to marry someone that has the qualities my dad has in the near future.

I couldn't pick just one Mormon Message to go along with this subject, so I have included two. I hope you will take the time to watch each of these and ponder the messages that are presented in each of them.

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, we read, " By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness."  This statement makes clear three fundamental realities regarding fatherhood:
1. Fathers are directed to take upon themselves the responsibility of spiritual leadership in family life as part of a loving Eternal Father's plan for family functioning.
2. A father's responsibility to preside occupies the first and foremost duty among the varied obligations that rest upon men in family life.
3. The manner in which a father is to exercise spiritual guidance among family members is explicitly articulated: " in love and righteousness."

Parenthood is a partnership. A fundamental principle in fathering is to partner with others in raising a child, including the child, the child's mother, extended family members, and the larger community.

The Family Proclamation also states that fathers are to provide for their families.  It also states that Fathers are to protect their families. " Perhaps the most important aspect of protecting children occurs as fathers model appropriate and righteous behavior in their own actions and choices."

I would like to end this post by sharing a paragraph in this chapter, " Fathers have the ability, for good or ill, to exercise great power and influence in the lives of their children and families. Power alone, however, is not what a father truly needs, nor does he need only the ability to influence and direct a child's life, thoughts, and feelings. A father needs the power to bless, which might be called "power in righteousness." Men do not bless by the mere exercise of power. They bless only by the exercise of power in righteousness. This is especially true of the exercise of priesthood power. To be a holy figure in the life of a child, in the life of a family, requires an association with powers that exist beyond our own mortal abilities. Power in righteousness comes only as we associate ourselves through prayer and sacred living with the powers of heaven."