The little boy loved watching the ducks on the pond – so when Dad decided it was time to go back to the car he kicked and yelled. So Dad carried him – screaming – back towards the car.

Mum was walking to meet them, Dad deposited the protesting child at her feet and continued walking back to the car - effectively washing his hands of any responsibility. And the mother allowed the lad to run back to the pond without making any attempt to stop him.
The net result of this scenario that I witnessed yesterday was that Dad was admitting that he had no control over his son and so Mum had better step in. When Mum stepped in, the little boy learned that he didn’t need to take either of them seriously!

I wrote that I saw it yesterday, which is true, but I could write a different scenario almost every day – because, sadly, what I have just described is the norm.

If that Dad doesn’t get his act together soon, junior will grow up believing that:

• he can get what he wants if he makes enough fuss
• if he wants a job done – get a woman to do it
  

Men – just a few simple questions:

1. Do the ladies in your life – wife, girlfriend, mother, sister or colleague – know that you can be relied on to take responsibility, and give leadership, in situations that arise?

2. If you are challenged about an area in which you didn’t get it ‘quite right’, do you:

a. become defensive?          

b. blame someone else?         

c. go quiet?   

d. feel sorry for yourself?

e. accept the criticism and grow?

3. What do you really feel when you don’t get it right?

a. wracked with guilt?       

b. a miserable failure?          

c. something else?

What you feel about yourself in those situations will probably be what you have always felt. It is just that those challenges bring out what we really feel. So, what do we fee? Click the arrow to discover how the way we feel has been shaped.