Love behind the scenes (A Father's day post)

I grew up thinking
a real father is the one who provides for his family.
I grew up believing a cool father
is the one who finds time for his children —
to watch a movie, to take them to the zoo.

I really grew up when I learned
a real father is the one
who urges his daughter to follow her dreams,
to live fiercely —but also to change a light fixture,
who sets a high standard
by how he treats her mother.

I truly grew wise when I understood
a real father is the one
so secure in his masculinity
that he would never compete with his child’s mother —
not in success, not in money, not by dimming her light.

He would never pressure his child
to choose one parent over the other,
for he knows a child’s heart has room
for his mother, his father, and many more.

True love is never conditional.
It doesn’t demand blind loyalty,
nor asks a child to take sides
by hurting one parent to appease the other.

A real father is not the one
who buys love through gifts and vacations,
for love is not a performance.
A child is not a weapon.

Parenting isn’t about the image,
or about playing favorites
It is about being real and raw.
It’s about who we are to our child
behind closed doors.

For life lessons are learned —
not from poems, nor long sermons,
but through lived experiences.