Men’s Interests

From author Tom Hinton:

1. We want you to know how much we love you. Yes, I know it sounds mushy, but it’s true. I’m not sure why, but it’s hard for fathers to tell their kids how much we really love them especially when their bedroom looks like a disaster area. I know you must think we hate you because we are the ones who oftentimes make the rules about when you need to be home for dinner, or telling you to get off the cell phone and do your homework. But the truth is we really do love you. Despite the fact that we badger you to get good grades, lots of sleep, and eat at least one healthy meal a day, we still love you. Having said that, don’t think we’re going to get soft on you. We’re still your fathers.

2. We want you to know that life is very fragile. On the outside, fathers are tough and strong. But, every morning when we read the newspaper about some young person who was killed in a senseless traffic accident or some kid who got mixed-up with the wrong crowd and was arrested in a drug sweep at the nearby high school, we tremble inside. We know from experience that life is very fragile and we don’t want to lose you. So, that’s why you’re not getting that red sports car for Christmas. And, that’s why we don’t want you carpooling with Fast Eddy. And, that’s why we set curfews and dating policies that bring you to tears. But, we do it because we were once teen-agers and we know how fragile life is. We know that kids rarely get a second chance to recover from a bad decision about alcohol, drugs, or speeding cars. The truth is we’re scared of losing you so that’s why we’re over-protective. Prove to us that you’re responsible and we’ll let you stay out to midnight. And, don’t even think of asking us to stretch that to 1:00 am.

3. We want you to succeed in life. I know you’re not thinking about this yet because just about everything you need in life we give you. But, know that we fathers are always thinking about your future and scheming in our heads on how to give you an edge. And, while we’re scheming and hoping you will amount to something someday, we understand that you just want to be left alone, locked in your bedroom so you can text message your one hundred best friends to find out who’s going where on Christmas break, and if there are any parties planned for New Years, or who wants to see a movie at the mall. We get it.

But, remember what fathers are always thinking about. We know there’s another side of life once you complete high school. We know that it’s a hard world and life gets damn tough. Frankly, it’s a pressure-cooker. Society continues to raise the performance bar and the competition is fierce. You’ve lived in this neighborhood all your life. But, out there, beyond the security of this community, there is a tough world that is just waiting to chew you up and spit you out. We know. We’ve seen it and some of it is not very pretty. We know that fewer kids are realizing their dreams. It’s getting tougher to get into a good college and earn your degree, or be accepted into a trade school where you can practice your craft. It’s getting more difficult to land a great job and earn good money that will put you on the path to success. And, while money and a good job aren’t the most important things in life, we fathers know that they are close to the top of the list if one day you want to enjoy Consumer Christmas in the style you’ve grown accustomed to.

Tom Hinton is the author of ‘Leadership Lessons I Learned on the Links.’

Leadership Lessons I Learned on the Links: Book One