Our future our children

Today is International Men's Day, Friday 19 November 2010. Being a man I have been waiting all year for my ten minutes of fame but maybe our children have been waiting longer.

So why are children waiting so diligently for International Men's Day?

The reason is that they want their fathers to grow up and become real men. Real men make good fathers, great men make great fathers and every child wants a great Dad.

No doubt you remember the school yard chant, "My Dad's better than your Dad". Or "My Dad's the best Dad in the world!"

Why do children say that?

Because they believe it. Whether it's true or not, they believe it, and that's all that matters to them. That is all that should matter to us too, but sadly it doesn't.

So what is the problem?

This morning while writing this article I picked up a children's story book that had been sent to me some weeks ago. It is titled The Tears that became Diamonds by Rebecca Coleman-Jones. It is subtitled beautifully, "A tender story for children of marriage breakdown". You all know I am a softie, so I am not ashamed to tell you that I did not get past page 3 before the tears started to flow.

Imagine a picture of a little boy playing with a construction set accompanied by the words on page 2:

"David was sitting on his bed fiddling with his construction set that his Dad had given him. Normally he enjoyed playing with it and making things out of it, but today he just didn't feel like it.

He felt jumbled up inside."

Further in the story David's Mum tells him that his Dad is not going to live with them any more.