Monday, March 4, 2013

Traditional Father v Modern Father

Sunday Sermon Mar 3 2013

The traditional father was always the family head, who stretched out his love of spouse and children having them always in his minds eye to be taken care of and nurtured in every possible way. His goals were always centered around his family and their future.
Driving the kids to school and back, taking them for swimming and tennis in the evenings and even watching every game of cricket they played was a part and parcel of life back in the good old days.
And his only payback was the welfare of the family.
This tradition paid back well in the hearts and minds of our parents and grandparents.
In return the children always cared for their parents and grandparents and lived in extended family formats  until the final call. Life was full of great living in those traditional times.
The Present Day Father seems worldly wise, spends for his kids as a social duty, yet doesn't sacrifice his own interest. If one asks, why it may be because he doesn't feel comfortable that his children will actually care for him in his dotage. The fear of ending up in an Old Folks Home seems to be the worry most are having in these troubled times.
There certainly seems to be a paradigm shift in the thinking of parents and elders over the past 50+ years.
Children too seem to be moving away from parental love and control at a much earlier age and fending for themselves in a more independent manner than what we came through 50 years ago.
How will this play out when these kids become Fathers of their own children? Is the massive increase in divorce rates seen in recent years one of the outcomes of this inability to stay a Father through a long and strenuous family life?
Change has come no doubt but what will it throw up?

Amen!

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