Originally broadcast on CHED Radio, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1963

This thought is directed to fathers.  It could just as well apply to mothers.  Ask any father if his son loves him.  He will answer something like this.  "Certainly, I'm his father aren't I".  Well I think it's a great mistake to take the love of your child for granted.  I feel a father has to work for a child's love, he has to earn it.  The accident of birth does not give him the right to assume the child must love him.  Yet how many of us really set about to earn the love and respect of our children?  We bring home the groceries. We pay the rent.  We sign the report card and dole out the allowance.  But a child's needs to go much deeper than this.  We must get to know these little people.  We must somehow identify with them.  We have to know their strengths and their weaknesses.  We have to share their successes and their heart breaks.  We have to dream when they dream and sometimes cry when they cry.  We must shape opinions, we must mould and we must guide for we are the example after which the child will pattern himself.  It's a big order, isn't it?  How few of us ever stop to think of the tremendous trust given us in our children.  Father, and mother, don't take your child's love for granted.  Set out each day to EARN it.  If at times you find this hard, try to picture your life WITHOUT your children.