From my earliest memories, I realized I was a person who lacked patience. I recall wishing I could leap ahead and be older than I was. I was a thinking kid and one who would process things rather quickly. That doesn’t mean I was always right. It simply meant that I would come to an understanding or conclusion and then become frustrated with why it was taking everyone else so long to get where I had already landed.

I carried that impatience into my adult life and that was an invitation for God to laugh and say, “Looks like I need to teach her some patience. I think I will send her a child.”  He is probably still laughing.

Regardless of whether your child entered kindergarten or college this year, they need you to show up. If you are the father of an adult child, they need you to be interested and understand what their lives are about. Age will never change the power of the message your interest sends and the value it adds to your child.

Many times dads have left the school arena up to mom. Open Houses and school conferences are typically attended by mothers.

Too many times I am around parents who cannot see what is in front of them. I am not talking about vision problems; I am referring to their inability to see their children for who they are and what they need.  Don’t consider me too critical. I recognize most moms and dads truly love their children and I applaud them for being devoted to them.  What I am most concerned about is that parents seem bound to expectations and needs that belong to them, not their children.

Many of you are in the midst of taking your teens to college or watching them move on to a new stage of life.  You have anticipated this day for many years, sometimes dreading it and other times impatiently waiting for it to arrive. Launching your child brings a mixture of emotions and takes you to places you have never been.

I’d like to share a few thoughts with you because this is an important moment for you and your child. You want to do this well because it will set the tone for the next several years: