Scene montage / voice over / maybe Morgan Freeman:
dad and son working along the highways, byways and farm lanes at the family business. Early morning. A little early in the business season.
The Kairos family from grandpa on down to little sister really love each other, they are close and get along rather well.
The recent tumult with the son is an all to familiar story. Except this story has a twist or two (wait for it), one being the issue between dad and son that so many face.
The issue is of the son growing up and the dad being a bit at a loss to handle the new relationship he needs to have with his son.
Far too often the dad checks out and the son is more lost than ever. The son doesn’t understand all the changes either and when the dad checks out he feels abandoned. Unwanted and frustrated. Which can cause a vicious cycle of explosive emotionality between both the dad and the son that causes damage to the relationship and then both are at a loss as to how to fix it.
An all to familiar cycle with no one who knows how to break the cycle.
This family has it’s seasons of ups and downs like everyone else but being a close family allows them to trust one another when one or the other becomes out of sorts so to speak.
In this instance the mom kept a level head and reminded dad that it wasn’t that long ago that he went through the same thing. He needs to remember that at every turn of their sons growth is a new experience for the both of them.
The son has never been a teenager before and dad has never been a dad to a seventeen year old before. He was one of course… but that was a long time and quite a few bills paid… ago.
This dad and son equation can become hard to solve if wisdom does not prevail. Both need to realize they are new at this at every turn and your only seventeen once, for a year, and your dad is only a dad to you once at that particular time of your life. It doesn’t have to become… literally for some people… a boxing match every day.
And if you didn’t know, kid’s don’t come with an owners manual to help you along.
Now if you have siblings you may have a more seasoned dad. One that has learned, the hard way, how to be a dad to a seventeen year old, but if not don’t be too hard on him.
Dads need to be men about this child rearing responsibility of theirs. They need to be there in body, soul and spirit… period.
Like Mr. Kairos, now back to the story…Â
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