My Daddy Strongest!!!

I suppose it’s completely understandable to be filled with doubts and apprehension when you are about to become a parent for the first time. Am I ready for parenthood? Will I be a good mother? Because even being a parent has become a competitive sport. The supermoms and superdads with their superkids fill mere mortals with dread even before baby is born. Insecurity, thy name is a first-time-parent.

Something happened a few weeks ago that opened my eyes to the truth about being a parent. Something sad. One of my uncles died suddenly of a heart attack. All of us were grief-struck, but especially so his three daughters. The younger one couldn’t stop talking about how much she’d miss her dad. How he was her pillar of strength, how much he had believed in her, how he encouraged her to be the best she could be. How he was the best dad in the world. And as I listened to her, it hit me like the proverbial bolt out of the blue.

He wasn’t the handsomest man in the world. Nor was he super qualified, super successful, super anything. He was a normal, everyday guy who led a simple, uncomplicated life. But to his daughters, he was the best. They wouldn’t have traded him for anybody else. Because ordinary guy that he was, he gave them extraordinary love – the kind no one else could have given them.

That’s all that’s needed, I realized. To love your children unconditionally, to believe in them, and to be there for them.

You don’t have to know all the answers. You don’t have to be on the Forbes list or possess an Ivy League degree or even be the smartest person they know. All you have to be is the most loving person they know. The one who kisses their boo-boos and sends them back to play. To be the one they can come to with their boo-boos or a first greeting card with a stick mama, papa and baby. Clichéd maybe, but it’s true nevertheless : Love really is all you need. After all, you are the only one who can love your children the way they deserve to be loved.