Who's Your Daddy?

Although this is a popular taunt insinuating one's dominance over another, the question is one that more and more American children are unable to answer, if asked seriously.  While completing my pediatric residency, one of the other male pediatric residents was asked by a child he was examining, "Are you my daddy?"  This unfortunate child realized that he needed a father and was seeking to find him. How heartbreaking.  The epidemic of father absence in this country has led to a nation of children who lack legitimate male role models and are searching for father figures. 

A question for the men out there: for whom, besides your own biological children, can you be a father figure?  Can you be a Big Brother?  Can you mentor a child or teen you know?  Can you be a foster parent?  Would you consider adoption?  There are over 13 million "double orphans" (children who have lost both their mothers and fathers) in the world.  Would you choose to be a father to one of them?

The absence of a father in a child's life can do immense harm and the presence of a father can do immense good.  More posts will follow on those topics, as well as on the topic of adoption.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God,the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world" - James 1:27