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Dear Editor:
Father’s Day is a day to celebrate dads and the important role they play in the lives of their families and their children. A father can teach his children so much, to tie their shoes, to ride a bike, throw a baseball, even how to balance a checkbook. Fathers hold the responsibility of equipping children with the tools to live a healthy, happy life.
Giving a lecture or setting guidelines are ways to instruct a child, but what you do may be more important than what you say. We all want to believe that children listen to what we say to them, but that’s not always the case. Children watch what their fathers are doing and follow their example.
I work for Family Development Services (FDS provides Head Start and Early Head Start programming to children and families in Marion and Hamilton counties) and I am also part of the Breathe Easy Tobacco Free Alliance (an alliance that promotes tobacco free living and smoke free air). Our partnership and collaboration efforts have supported the vision and mission of FDS by educating the families and staff on the Breathe Easy Campaign and being tobacco free via trainings, classroom activities/center events and at our FROG Father and Families Conferences.
I encourage fathers to celebrate a tobacco-free life and set the example of being tobacco free.
If you do smoke, you can still be a wonderful role model. First, let your child know you made a mistake by starting to smoke. Be direct – tell them that if you could do it all over, you never would have started smoking. Second, make a quit attempt. It might not be easy and it may take you several attempts to quit, but your child will see you and will hopefully model your healthy lifestyle.
Added resource: There’s a wonderful free resource to help break the addiction to nicotine – 1-800-QUIT-NOW. I share it with my families, please use this if you are ready to try to quit smoking.
Happy Father’s Day!
Teresa Rice
Head Start Director
Family Development Services
Indianapolis