My wife is currently 3+ months pregnant with our first child and I am about to become a Dad. Naturally I’m very excited about this prospect (gunning for a boy!) but also somewhat taken back by the sudden enormity of my responsibility as a father. Will I be too strict or too relaxed? Will my kids think I’m funny? Will they even like me? More importantly, will they turn out all right in the end?

What does anyone do to prepare for fatherhood? My wife and I are currently reading through, To Train Up a Child and so far we both think there are some great principles to be gleaned there. But really good parenting technique I feel comes from experience – something we will ironically only have when it’s too late to use!

To improve my morale, I did some searching online for the worst parenting examples I could find – something that would make me feel like super dad in comparison. Check out this blurb:

When her two young sons first started walking, Lisa Moricoli-Latham, a mother in Pacific Palisades, Calif., would gently push them over. For the sake of their development, she thought it would be better for them to crawl first. A physical therapist had told her so. She kind of enjoyed it, she says. “It gave me this sort of nasty thrill…”

What!? What insane person would purposefully tip their children over and get a “nasty thrill” out of watching them fall?

I found another story about a woman who claimed on twitter that she was considering strangling her 3 year old if she didn’t stop crying. Two hours later the police showed up at her door to check on the child and thankfully found her tucked in and safe.

There is one thing that I know I can count on during the formative years of my kids: I will make many mistakes as a dad. My wife and I are just two sinners about to raise a bunch of sinners! There is one thing I am counting on above all the parenting technique, discipline, and training and that is the mercy of God on my family. Long ago I determined that the only thing I could do to ensure a good outcome for my kids is to plead with God to intervene in their lives on my behalf.

I have seen many bad parents end up with good kids and many good parents with bad kids. I know that no matter what I do, my children will eventually have to decide for themselves on salvation and whether they will serve the Lord with their lives. For this reason, I am taking the approach found in Proverbs:

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.
Proverbs 21:31

I am going to prepare the horse (e.g. have family devotions, teach my kids how to pray, train and discipline them, be faithful to church, make my kids attend a Godly school, etc…) but I must rely on God to deliver the results.

There will be more pregnancy/fatherhood related updates in the future. :)

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