Ronald Reagan on Fatherhood

What does fatherhood mean today in America?

I guess the same as it always has.

Fatherhood can sometimes be walking the floor at midnight with a baby that can’t sleep. More likely, fatherhood is repairing a bicycle wheel for the umpteenth time, knowing that it won’t last the afternoon. Fatherhood is guiding a youth through the wilderness of adolescence toward adulthood.

Fatherhood is holding tight when all seems to be falling apart; and it’s letting go when it is time to part. Fatherhood is long hours at the blast furnace or in the fields, behind the wheel or in front of a computer screen, working a 12-hour shift or doing a six-month tour of duty. It’s giving one’s all, from the break of day to its end, on the job, in the house, but most of all in the heart.

– President Ronald Reagan, 1986

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, husband March 1, 2012 by Jim Daly