The first few posts for this website have been held up by editorial review. My wife (thank God for honest women) declared them too “teachy” and sentenced them to revision. They should be along shortly, in their more conversational and enjoyable form.

This delay in their publication has been an unexpected blessing: not only did it improve the style and tone of the introductory posts, but it also reminded me of the most important truth about fatherhood.

Not an Expert
The point of Manly Dad is to provide encouragement for dads (and moms!) who want to provide solid examples of true manhood for their sons to imitate and for their daughters to desire in their future husbands. This is not a place to receive expert advice on childrearing. That would require an expert in parenting—which this website decidedly lacks. My kids are far from perfect, and my fathering is even farther from perfect.

As is typical with starting projects like these, the very week of my first post on this website was also one of very difficult parenting.  Circumstances aside, the last three days have revealed how often I fail as a father. This wasn’t anything I didn’t already know, but this time the revelation was so clear that I considered scrapping the website and joining a monastery (joking, but just barely).

Owning Up
This difficult weekend reminded me of the most important truth about manly fatherhood. All hairy-chested definitions aside, the one thing necessary to be a man is to own up to your failings. Make apology without excuse, receive forgiveness with gratitude, make restitution eagerly, and move forward in love and humility.

Any man who does this regularly is a true man. And if he shows his kids the same, then he is a true dad—a Manly Dad.

At the end of the day, behind all the wisdom and love, the father is still just a man—a man flawed and struggling. A Manly Dad is not a perfect dad. But because of his willingness to confess his faults, his failings as a father can become the most powerful demonstrations of his manliness and fatherhood.