I have been a father now for more than thirty years, and I remember very well when this condition came upon me. It was mysterious, scary, and joyous. A brand new human being was my responsibility, and I could imagine all of the things that could go wrong. Many of them did.

Our son David came first, and our daughter Dianna came later. Although both my wife and I are blind, our children are sighted, which has led to a number of interesting discussions.

The job of a father is to give support and love to Mom and the new lives that come to the family. Children are extraordinarily demanding, dramatically expensive, and inconvenient. If it weren’t for love, having children would be close to intolerable. However, every moment comes to be worth the trouble because the love exists.

In addition to the basics, a father must provide education and entertainment, along with the sense that the children are valued and loved. The education can be challenging. How do you teach the intangibles such as ethics and independence? How do you give a child a sense of wonder?

Once when we were buying supper from a fast food vendor, the clerk gave us too much change, and I instructed my son to return the excess. He asked me why, and I responded that I knew the cash drawer would be short if we did not correct the mistake and the clerk would get into trouble. We did not want to cause the clerk to face this experience. It was an opportunity for education.

Childhood begins with children having the opinion that they are the most important beings on the planet. However, after they have faced competition from their peers and from numerous adults, they sometimes doubt their value. Then comes the time when parents must teach them again that they have contributions to make and much talent. The confidence rebuilding stage happens while they are teenagers, which makes the process more difficult, but it becomes simpler when parents identify characteristics in their children that they admire.

I urged my children to be independent. They took me seriously. One now lives in Texas, and the other lives in Hawaii. This means I don’t get to see them very often, but I admire them for showing the spirit to do what pleases them.

I feel that I can claim success as a father because my children are living on their own and because they still like me. I think this shows good taste on their part. Although I did not always know what to do, and although there were mistakes aplenty, my children seem to have developed good sense, and they’re fun to be with.