by Christopher David

Created on: February 15, 2009

Recently, a good friend of mine stopped by to see me. He was excited about being a dad once again because he and his wife just had their second child. We sat down and got to taking about our kids and how much we enjoyed our families. He complimented me and my wife on how good we were at being a great mom and dad and raising our daughter with great success.

I explained to him that being a new dad was the best part of my life. I looked forward to coming home from work and spending every minute with my daughter. I absolutely loved it. Back then, all we had was a 12-inch black & white television that we never watched because my wife and I spent all our time watching and playing with our daughter. She was our entertainment. Later on, as our daughter grew from infant to child, we included her in everything, from family gatherings to weddings and funerals. We included her in almost everything. Even though she was a child, I encouraged her to help me do things like work on the house if something was broke. She helped me with all kinds of projects because I wanted her to be included in almost everything my wife and I did. It didn't take long for our daughter to always say "Let me let me" because she wanted to do whatever it was we were doing at the time.

My friend that dropped by began asking me about parental advice, and then he asked me a simple question... "What's the secret to being a great parent?" It was a very simple, but very deep and heart-felt question that deserved some serious thought. In that moment I thought about all the many things and influences that contributed to our successful parenthood. I condensed my thoughts and summed them all up in one short sentence that I knew my friend would appreciate. I looked him in the eyes, and told him, "Never, ever treat your child like an inconvenience."

His eyes widened as he processed the information. He seemed to get excited about this simple advice. He smiled and looked at both me and my wife. "That's it!" he said excitedly with a new found confidence in his voice. "That's the holy grail of how to be a good parent. And that's the best advice anyone ever gave me," he said. It was so simple... "Don't ever treat your child like an inconvenience." There were lots of other things that I could have told him that contributed to our success as parents, but everyone has different influences that shape their knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world they live in. I really felt good about giving my friend that one piece of advice because I truly believe he will reflect upon it and use it, and be a great dad to his kids.

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