Contact Sports for Boys
Theme of the Week: Let Them Feel Your Affection
Ken Canfield
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: There you saw how the Lord carried you, as a father carries his son (Deuteronomy 1:31, NIV).Bonus Reading: Psalm 144:12, 15
In God's Playbook, the late Green Bay Packers linebacker Reggie White wrote, "I don't just tell my kids I love them. I show them.
"As a father, it's easy to hug and kiss your daughter. But a survey taken a few years ago said that 60 to 70 percent of fathers don't hug and kiss their sons after the age of six.
"A lot of boys don't want to be kissed in public by their parents, but I tell Jeremy, 'If I kiss you and you scream like a girl, I'll give you a lick.' And I slobber all up and down his face. So Jeremy accepts a public kiss from his dad. It beats the alternative."
Sons need shoulder-to-shoulder affection. Something about physical touch makes us feel better. Boys gain self-esteem from sustained contact, such as wrestling or other physical play, being picked up by their dad, sitting on his lap, or being held. And they need big, old-fashioned bear hugs and other displays of affection as well, on into adulthood.
A father's display of warmth and security will build positive self-esteem in a son. Studies indicate that sons of sensitive, affectionate fathers score higher on intelligence tests and do better at school then sons of colder, authoritarian fathers. They also have fewer gender identity issues.
—Ken Canfield in They Call Me Dad
My Response: Some ways I do or could get physical with my son(s) are …
Thought to Apply: Children of all ages need meaningful touch, particularly (in more playful ways) from a father.—ROBERT SALT (commenting on interviews with children)
Adapted from They Call Me Dad (Howard, 2005) by permission.
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Help me, Lord, to empower my children by investing in their physical, emotional, and spiritual maturity.
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