Happy Father's day! Tanti auguri papa'!

• He puts his wife first. In his priorities, her happiness and welfare are uppermost in importance, and his children know this.
• He has a constant spirit of team collaboration with his wife. She is his partner in a collective team enterprise.     
• He works with his wife to set and maintain a long-term vision (20 years ahead) about the children's growth in character, no matter what they later do for a living.             
• He corrects his children's faults, not them personally. He combines correction and punishment with affectionate forgiveness, understanding, and encouragement.                       
• He's not afraid of being temporarily "unpopular" with his children. Their long-term happiness is more important to him than their present bruised feelings from correction. 
• He encourages his children, showing and explaining how to do things right, and how to do the right thing. He directs rather than manages.                 
• He goes out of his way to listen to his children, and he pays close attention to their growth in character. He monitors and guides their performance in sports, chores, homework, good manners, and relations with siblings and friends. He knows what goes on in his home and inside the growing minds of his children.
• He respects his children's freedom and rights. He teaches them how to use their freedoms responsibly, and he exercises only as much control as they need. He sets limits to his children's behavior, draws lines between right and wrong. Within those limits, the children may do what they think best; beyond the lines, they begin to infringe on the rights of others - and this he will not permit.
• He wants his children to be active, and he knows that all active people make mistakes. He teaches them that life involves intelligent risk-taking, including the risk of error, and that there's nothing wrong with mistakes if we learn from them.
• He sets aside his fatigue, anxiety, and temptations to slack off - putting his fatherly duties ahead of self-interested pursuits. He sets aside the newspaper to help with homework. He goes without t.v. to set a good example. He lets his kids work with him around the house even when they mostly get in the way. Like a good boss, he's always available to help and advise.
• He shares conversation with his children until he and they know each other inside out.  
• He gives his children a sense of family history and continuity. 
• He is open to his children's suggestions, their "input" about family decisions. When matters are unimportant, he accedes to their preferences. But larger, more important matters are decided by the parents.         
• He takes his wife's judgment seriously, especially in matters pertaining to the children.              
• When he has caused offense, he apologizes. 
• Habitually he punctuates his speech, especially toward his wife, with please, thank you, and excuse me.            
• He draws strength from his religious faith and love for his family.
• He knows that time passes quickly and he hasn't much of it. So he makes smart use of scant resources. He makes the time, even small slivers of it here and there, to live with his children.             
• His life as husband and father is, to him, one of noble, self-sacrificing adventure. As long as his children are in his care, he will not quit or slacken in his efforts to form their character. He will protect and provide for his family no matter what the cost, for they are the meaning of his life, the object of his manly powers, the center of his heart.

Children with a father like this, wholly supported by a great wife, have a fighting chance of becoming great men and women. (http://www.parentleadership.com/ - James Stenson).