One father’s answer to the “challenge craze.” It doesn’t involve cinnamon or buckets of ice water. Could YOU meet this one?
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I stumbled across this heartfelt message on Facebook. I noticed it because the caption said that this was what the challenger, Kendell Smith, thought it took to be a “real man.”
After all, what’s he really asking? That fathers “Take care of your kids, be there in their lives. and mean something to them.”
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My hackles usually stand straight up when I see someone challenging someone else to be a “real” anything. Because my only criteria for “real” is “not faking it.” But after watching the video (more than once) I felt like Kendell’s challenge was more of a real challenge than challenging anyone to be a “real man.”
After all, what’s he really asking? That fathers “Take care of your kids, be there in their lives. and mean something to them.”
I have had the privilege of knowing some amazing fathers, some biological, some honorary, and those three things are exactly what made them “real” to me. They took care, they were present, and they were meaningful.
Please, if you have the opportunity to touch the life of a child, just be real. A real person. A person who cares, who is there, and who lives in a way that your presence and care means something to the malleable life you’re helping to mold.
Find out more about Kendall’s Challenge.
As I mentioned in a response to another article, we need more people saying to women to let the dads be dads. We need to start opening doors and let men be who they are and have access to their kids.