Happy Father's Day!

I hope you guys had a wonderful Father's Day. Too often, we take you and your influence on our children for granted or discount it altogether. The reality is that your presence and guidance has a profound impact on our children, and they suffer tremendously without your presence and involvement in their lives.

I ran a Google search for "study of fatherless children" and came up with a disturbing array of articles and studies showing the terrible effects children suffer when they do not have a father. Here are some of the statistics pertaining to fatherless children:

From July, 2003 Idaho Observer (visit the article for complete stats and sources)

• 63% of youth suicides are fatherless children
• 71% of pregnant teens
• 90% of all homeless and runaway children
• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders
• 80% of rapists motivated by displace anger
• 85% of all youths in prisons

Those are a very few of the statistics cited. One of the saddest ones I read was that "only 11% of mothers value their husband's input when it comes to handling problems with their kids."

I'd like to pay tribute to Mr. Incredible and thank him for being a father who cares about and loves his children. While he was gone at school, I learned how inadequate a parent I am without him. Our children need both of us. God knew what He was doing when he created the family structure with one man and one woman.

God bless you fathers, and please continue to invest your time in your children.