Elder F. Melvin Hammond
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"Dad, are you awake?
"To every father I pose the same penetrating question. . . . Do your sons ever wonder if you are asleep when it comes to the things that are most important to them?"
The father must be the leader of the family when it comes to loving God and keeping his commandments. "Every father in the church should function as the patriarch of his home. He should take the lead in spiritually guiding the family. He ought not to delegate nor abrogate his responsibilities to the mother. He should call for family prayer, family home evening, scripture reading and occasional father interviews."
Fathers must respect and love their wives. "We cannot expect our sons to develop respect and gentleness toward their mothers if we do not provide the proper example."
Fathers must discipline justly and lovingly. "When I was a little boy, my widowed mother gave me the most severe discipline possible: She said, with tears in her eyes, 'My son, I am so disappointed in you.' . . . A thousand lashes could not have cut me so deeply. I knew that such a rebuke could only have been made to me out of her pure love, for if there was one thing I was certain of, it was that my mother loved me."
"Dads, it is imperative that the challenges I have mentioned be mastered in our lives if our sons are to be spiritually and emotionally mature. If we do, then they will not be ashamed of us, nor will they ever be ashamed of themselves."
