Happy Father’s Day!

Audio By Carbonatix

Recently, my two adult sons and I loaded into the car and drove a couple of hours to go to a sports card show. Now, I realize that isn’t something that’s immediately relatable to everybody, but that’s okay! I’m not trying to convince anybody else to enjoy our hobby. But on this Father’s Day, I do want to encourage all dads to find some way to stay connected with their kids. Collecting basketball cards is something that my two sons and I have shared together for something like 35 years. Obviously, when we first started out buying cheap packs at the grocery store or local card shop on occasion, none of us ever imagined it would be an interest that we would continue to share for decades to come.

As glad as I am to have this connection and to be continually creating these memories with my own sons, in these moments, I also have to face the painful reality that I never had any significant emotional connection with my own father. My dad was a hard man to be close to. He was often angry and paranoid, so life with Dad was more about avoiding his fury than it was about proactively creating a deep connection. He passed away in 2021, and even though he mellowed out a lot in his later years and even lived with my wife and me for about a year, we were never able to have a deep or meaningful connection.

I know that I’m not alone with this story, and I know that Father’s Day can be a hard day for anybody with a similar story of their own father. No matter your personal experience with your dad, here is my challenge to all dads: Let’s go and create those meaningful connections with our kids today. What’s great is that you can connect with your kids over any number of things. I mean, I bet you didn’t expect to read about a connection based on sports cards, did you? You can spend meaningful time with your kids while you’re playing video games, working on cars, keeping up with your favorite sports teams or entertainers, making food, working around the house, shopping, walking trails, or any number of other activities that you do together. The main thing is that you find ways to do these things together. Because time together creates opportunities for more meaningful conversations and deeper emotional connections.

The intentional time you spend together right now also lays the groundwork for your relationship over the years and decades to come. I know that these opportunities for connection are coming at the same time that you’re very busy with lots of other responsibilities and opportunities. And, trust me, I know how hard it can be to conjure up the energy to come home from work and to jump right into playing with the kids or to spend time having involved conversations with them.

But, as a dad with four adult kids, I can tell you that sacrificing that time and digging deep while your kids are young is what sets you up for deep and meaningful relationships that will last long after your kids grow up and leave home. Happy Father’s Day, and thanks to all of the dads who are engaged and are creating environments where you and your family are winning at home!