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Hey Dad,

Dads get no respect. I know this doesn't come as a shocker to you … you're a dad. We work hard to provide a good life for our children, keep them well clothed, provide a warm shelter, and prepare them for adulthood. In response, they cough in your face.

Take this morning. I was sleeping away when I became keenly aware that our youngest was hacking in my face about every six seconds. It was a deep, chesty cough, and I wondered how many days it would be before I got it. Not that it mattered to him. I was his dad … that's all.

It wasn't like I was bothered by his behavior. It's pretty much par for the course for "daddom." His brothers and sister do the same. I've been coughed on, thrown up on, pooped on, and even had my hair used as Kleenex.

I guess I should be flattered by the comfortable relationship that I enjoy with my children, but sometimes I just feel plain USED.

Maybe that's why some dads have opted out of fathering for a more gratifying "profession." After all, at work you're appreciated. You do a good job, work hard, and someone rewards you with a pay raise, a pat on the back, or a gold sticker, AND no one ever coughs in your face or wipes his nose on your hair.

That's why we dads need each other. I was reminded about the power of encouragement when I met with a fellow dad at his office last week.

As we talked, another dad passed by, and the dad I was talking to looked him in the eye and said, "You 'da dad."

Now he might have just been saying that because that's how I close my weekly emails, but there was something encouraging in his voice.

I thought, Wouldn't it be great if dads all across America encouraged each other with, "You 'da dad!" It might counteract the tiredness, the non-appreciation, and the urge to jump ship.

It begins with you and me. Try it for a day with the dads who cross your path.

I'll start …

You 'da dad!

©Copyright Todd Wilson, 2003. Used by permission.

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