Jerry Hines has covered all the bases for Dads who love their kids, but don’t know quite what to do with them! Here are more than fifty short stories to make you laugh, and encourage you to think about the incredibly important man you are to your kids, their mother, and their friends.

“Dads, let’s keep it simple! Get yourself a cup of coffee and read Jerry’s book about being a good dad. Brother Hines puts it in ‘Dad Language’ and doesn’t pull any punches. The stories are short and easy to read . . . but there are many gold nuggets of truth in these stories. So, read it – finish your coffee, and go Be the Dad!”
Dr. Dennis “The Swan” Swanberg
America’s Minister of Encouragement

Walking In Ice-cream!

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At every opportunity, encourage your children to try new things.

When our children were small our family went for a day to King’s Island amusement park in Ohio.  We were in our swimsuits and bare feet running around inside the water maze.  We stepped to the outside edge of the maze just in time to see a small child holding a giant ice cream cone, probably triple scoop size.  Just as he took his first lick, the pile of ice cream fell off the cone and hit the hot pavement. The little boy began to cry.  We all felt sorry for him and within seconds he and his mother turned and were headed back to the ice cream stand.  At that instant, my middle daughter, who was probably five or six years old, looked up at me and asked, “Dad, can I go step in it?”  I laughed and said, “Go for it.”  She walked over to the melting glob, looked around to see who was watching her, and then she stepped right into the middle of it.  It was a Kodak moment.  How many people can say they have been walking in ice-cream?  What kind of interesting things will you let your children try?

We did dance lessons and art lessons with our first.  We did gymnastics and guitar with our second.  We did soccer and vocal lessons with our third.  We did piano and basketball with our fourth.  Nothing lasted more than two or three seasons and that’s okay.

• Choir
• School play
• Ice-skating
• Walking in ice-cream
• Working in the fast food industry
• Traveling outside the country on a mission trip
• Jumping off a bridge into a river (We’re talking small bridge, small river here.)

When your child comes home talking about trying this or that, tell them to go for it.  If they learn nothing else from the experience, they will learn that it is something they never want to do again.  Be an encourager.  Encourage your children to try a multitude of things if for no other reason than for the experience of having done them.  They don’t have to be a star at everything they try, but they should “get a gold star” for having tried.

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What can you do this week to encourage your child to try something new?

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Encourage those who are timid. (NLT)