I love that the show This Is Us is making fatherhood a positive thing again. For a long time we have lived with the idea being presented on television that the father is the joke of the family. Think about it. From Homer Simpson to Al Bundy. From the Raymond everyone loves to the tool-man to the three guys with a full house, TV dads of the past twenty to thirty years have had one thing in common. They are morons. Good hearted, but (mostly selfish) idiots.
But not anymore. Now there is a new show in town with a dad that resembles my own (and a family that resembles my kids as well, but we’ll save that for another post). Now, This Is Us is on every Tuesday night with a father that is the rock of his family.
And I’m thankful. I’m thankful because I like to talk about fatherhood. I like to do so because our society will only be as good as our fathers are, because fathers have such a huge impact on the direction of their children, and the way our children go is the way our culture goes.
I strive to be a good father and (thankfully) I had a good father to model myself after. But I know a lot of you didn’t have a good example growing up like I did. That’s why I like seeing Jack Pearson on TV. He gives us a model we can watch once a week. So here are three quick lessons for all the fathers out there from Jack Pearson. I could tell you I learned them from my father (because I did), but you can’t see my father at work, so lets just say we got them from This Is Us.
- Be Present. Half the battle of fatherhood is showing up. Your kids don’t need you to be perfect, they need you to be present. Like Jack Pearson in This Is Us, just be there for your family. Kids care less about the new car, the new TV, and the new paycheck than they do about having their dad in their life. Just show up. The rest will come after that.
- Be Invested. In This Is Us it looks like Jack Pearson recording his daughter singing, watching his son play football, and helping his other son build a science project. In my life it looked like my dad playing sports in the cove, coming to my baseball games, and getting excited when I booked a fitness photo shoot. I don’t know what it looks like with you and your kids, but you do. Invest in your kids. It’s the one investment you can be sure will pay off later.
- Be faithful. One of the best things about This Is Us is the relationship between Jack and Rebecca. The relationship between husband and wife is stronger and more loving than the one between the parents and the kids. It is a good reminder for the rest of us. Kids want to see their parents love each other. Kids need to see a strong, selfless relationship between their parents. I know, because my parents did. As disgusting as it was for eight year old me to see his parents kissing all the time, it was also good to see. Jack Pearson puts his spouse above his kids and in a weird way that makes him able to love his kids more. I can’t explain why it works that way, it just does.
We all complain about Hollywood putting garbage on TV these days, so we’ve got to give them credit when they get it right. I’m thankful that we are being offered a good example of fatherhood. It’s refreshing to see.
Here’s to my dad, Jack Pearson, and all the fathers out there like them….
Nick Reese wakes from a three-year coma to find the world he once knew is gone. An ancient virus has infected two-thirds of the world’s population, turning humans into either incredibly intelligent super-humans or large and indestructible animalistic creatures. For the survivors, there is no government, no antidote, and no safety. With the help of a beautiful hematologist named Faith and a man they call the Commander, Nick must survive long enough to discover the origin of the virus and learn how his blood could hold the key to a cure. But he has to do it while being hunted by the infected. And failure means the extinction of the human race.
If you like THIS IS US you might also like THE NEPHILIM VIRUS.
