Father Knows Best by Dr. Juan Harrison

Father Knows Best 

Most of us have fond memories of family TV shows with happy endings and crises solved in thirty minutes.  Even today many of us search for the old shows on TV hoping the reruns will wash out our ears and lighten our stress-burdened lives momentarily.  Most TV families were headed by wise fathers and loving mothers who worked in tandem to solve the problem and bring back peace and tranquility to the home.  A few shows had widowed fathers or divorced moms fighting the good fight as best they could as a single parent.

Fast forward 50-60-70 years and all is not well.  Sadly, a far larger number of homes no longer have the luxury of two caring parents to help share the parental responsibility load and all the family financial demands exacerbated by reduced family income.  Child support can be inconsistent or nonexistent, necessitating the need for overtime or second or third jobs as the single parent is torn between the need to be two places at the same time—home and work.  Families get cheated on time with mom or dad as single parents simply trying to keep the rent paid and provide a stable home base for the young ones.  Even totally dedicated committed two-parent households can share the single parent’s anxiety as the rising cost of living threatens their quality of life.  

Beyond sheer survival we find families facing challenges from all directions as sinister forces seem to be attacking the family on all fronts.  Different elements of our society including bureaucracies and schools appear to be trying to impose their wills and philosophies on the family and home.  They often seek to make the families more dependent on them thus allowing the outside influences and powers to substitute themselves for the parent’s role in the home.  Often the male role model in the home almost seems to be eliminated as he is replaced by government stipends and regular support.

There is no wonder that many of our children are confused as to where to look for support.  Everywhere from their masks at school to staples at home from birth to death often comes from some nebulous source other than from the labor or lack of it from Mom and possibly Dad.  As our society has moved from clearly defined roles of individuals with structured lives and reasonably stable families providing support and guidance to a world of dependence on outside entities, children no longer feel the confidence and sense of security and safety they once did.

Children tend to be more adaptable and flexible in accepting rapidly changing rules and values in our society.  Still, we have to wonder how much better they would fare if our world of families could once again look to a higher source as we once did when the human family remembered that our heavenly Father Knows Best.

By Dr. Juan Harrison