TV Dads and Their Impact

As we are nearing the end of 2022, I've been reflecting on the people that have had an impact on my life. My dad use to look at photos taken and say, "In three years, half of the people in that photo will be gone." You don't realize how real that statement is until you lose people suddenly. That we are not promised tomorrow or even today. We are told to plan for the future, but sometimes all we have is now. Keep in mind, I'm not telling you that you shouldn't plan for the future as you need to. You could be one of the lucky ones that live to be over 100. It is interesting to think though that you make all these plans and nothing comes of what you thought was going to happen. It's not like a television series, where everything is packaged with a perfect bow as each season comes to an end.

Remembering back to the 90s and my childhood, I think about the TGIF sitcoms with the different TV families - Boy Meets World, Full House, Family Matters, and Dinosaurs. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the father figures on these shows. They were strong characters that were driven by a moral compass and directed their children to do the right thing. In the 90s these shows were all over television and nowadays the family sitcom doesn't exist anymore. So, what attracted people to these shows? It was the feel-good feeling that no matter what happened, these groups of people were there for each other through the good times and bad.

Full House started off dark, with the mother passing away suddenly from a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The father (Danny Tanner) had three young daughters he was left to raise on his own. His best friend (Joey) and his brother-in-law (Jesse) moved into the home to help with child care and be additional parent figures for the girls to look up to during their growing-up years. The Tanner family went through new relationships, new family members, and dealing with adolescent challenges including bullying, smoking, and alcohol drinking. The one thing that never changed was their heart-to-heart conversations and their fearlessness to talk about everything and anything when someone in the family was struggling.

We've lost this a little bit in society. With technology having become such a center in our lives, we have lost the art of conversation. Being able to connect with one another and have deep discussions about matters that are important. I want to encourage you to put the phone and computer down and reconnect with those in your home. Find ways to have hard talks about situations that are bothering you. It should never be a fight, but many times it becomes that. We have developed anxiety and depression and do not even realize that we have created these issues. Let's take it back to the 90 days when these feel-good sitcoms brought us into their families and treated us like their own. Now, take these lessons into your own home and love, live, and build trust as there has never been previously.