A Father's Gift
By: John Shaughnessy

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Lakewood Moms: Please ask your husband to click on this link above, and read this inspiring article from All Pro Dads. If Dad is interested in doing something like this for our kids, please have them contact my husband Stephen, by email at sjmaduzia@verizon.net

Bill Bissmeyer shares the simple idea of a monthly breakfast that strengthens the bonds between fathers and their children, which has mushroomed into a concept that has been embraced by hundreds of groups in at least 40 states and six countries. He also describes “the miracle” that happens during one part of the special breakfasts—when each father stands up, introduces his son or daughter and then publicly shares at least one reason he is proud of his child.

“The look on the child’s face is like one of those time-delayed pictures of a flower blooming,” Bissmeyer says. “When the father introduces the daughter and says something sincerely about her, she literally grows in her father’s praise.”

“It’s nice to be just dad and the kids,” say Ben Stallings, a Roncalli parent and a father of five. “We did that when they were younger. It’s harder as they get older, and they have so many other things going on. It would be nice to do this once a week.”

His 15-year-old son, Ray, enjoys the time, too. “Me and my dad are real busy,” says Ray, a sophomore at Roncalli. “It’s nice to get up early and do this once a month. It gives us a chance to talk. I like that.”

The approach to the breakfasts is simple, Bissmeyer says. “The ingredients are: breakfast, kids, an introduction and praise from the father of the child, and a 10-minute speaker,” he says. “It’s kind of like saying you invented the cake when a cake has been around forever. You’re just showing people the ingredients to use.” He pauses and adds, “I never had an inkling that this would grow into what it has. It’s not to be credited to anyone except the individual father who takes the time to come.”

The breakfasts can get emotional for parents and children who don’t see each other on a regular basis because of a divorce. The emotion flows through everyone in the room when the speaker for the morning is a father who shares the story of a child who died.

“Every one of those fathers says the same thing, ‘Hug your kid,’ ” Bissmeyer says. “That’s their main message. Nothing else but
‘Hug your kid.’ ”