What does it mean to be a father? Someone once gave me a fridge magnet that said: 'Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad'. This has got me thinking, what does it take to be a father, and is being a dad really that different?
The comment 'Anyone can be a father', likely is referring to the fact that as a man (or even before that), it doesnt take much to conceive a child within the womb of a lover; just a moment of weakness or complete ignorance of the concequences of his actions. Can this one act make him a dad? I don't think so. Perhaps the father then stays around to look after his rapidly growing unborn child and its mother, he gets a steady job to provide enough money for the food and clothing and maybe even a roof over their heads. He goes to work early in the morning and doesnt come home til long after he has finished work and drank his quota down at the local. Is he a dad now? I say he would perhaps be of more benefit to the mother if he just left, took his problems with him and sent money to the child every week.
What is the 'something special' that makes someone a Dad? Is the title Dad just a term of endearment, a name called only to someone loved? In short I beleive it is.
To be a Dad requires much more than simply being a father. So it is true, anyone can be a father but it takes someone who is lovable to be a Dad.