About Fatherlyhood

Being the best dad you can be truly is an art. Or, maybe a science. Regardless, it takes work, and there are many road blocks, stumbling blocks. Here's what this blog won't and will entail.

• It will explore the life of a dad (me); the good, the bad and the ugly.
• It won't be a blog about the bumbling, fumbling, stumbling man-of-the-house so prevalent on sitcoms and, in fact, in many households. You know the one, the guy who is simply a grown-up version of a kid. 
•  It won't be a blog furthering the myth that a dad is a weak minded fool who's duties merely include taking out the trash, changing the oil in the car, and fixing things. 
• It will be a blog that explores the qualities that make the best dad the world has ever seen. 
• It will look at dad as one of two people that help determine the types of adults his children will become. 
• It will explore leadership, tenderness, manliness, duty, character, courage, persistence and a host of other things that our children should witness coming from us, from dad. 
• Most importantly, it will have a focus on faith. It is my hope that in each post, even if not overtly about faith, my own belief in Christ will show through. 

Yes. I'm a dad. One who loves his children more than life.  One who makes mistakes and bad decisions, lots of them, too many to list. One who tries to improve himself every day. Whether I'm an artist or scientist, I do not know. I just try to be the best dad I can be and pass along good lessons to my children.

P.S.  Lest anyone think that this will be a blog that seeks to establish certain things as unworthy of a man, or "woman's work," consider this example.  When running late to drop off my children at school a while back, I found myself in the hallway outside my youngest daughter's classroom. I was brushing her hair and putting it into the type of ponytail she likes before sending her into her class. I thought nothing of the act until I began receiving compliments from female teachers and moms. That entire episode, my dear friends, could be at the core of manliness, the center of dadliness, the heart of Fatherlyhood.

Alan L. Hammond
Father, Man

My youngest took the picture. Insisted I use it.

Sent from my iPad (I decided to leave the iPad vanity, because, you know, it shows I'm cool)