“The Creator of all, the source of all power and wisdom, has one great desire: to be called Father. You share that name with God.”

I do not think there is a greater cheerleader for dads today than Dr. Meg Meeker. This book is friendly, practical, encouraging, and inspired. I think that every dad could be blessed by what Dr. Meeker has written in Hero: Becoming the Dad Your Children Need. Both a love song to dads and a playbook to equip them, this dynamic book will affirm their worth, inform their attitudes, empower their actions, and encourage their very souls. This book is for all dads: seasoned dads, young dads, married dads, divorced, widowed, and single dads. Endorsed by Jim Daly, Dr. Les Parrott, Philip Rivers, Dave Ramsey, Rob Davis, David Tyree, and Benjamin Watson, Hero is about God’s perfect creativity and the unique role fathers fill in the lives of their children.

“It’s time for the men in this country to rise up, stand firm, and truly become the heroes their kids need them to be. I truly believe that, with a world of strong fathers, there simply is no limit to what the next generation can achieve.” -Dave Ramsey, Forward to Hero

Dr. Meg Meeker is a Christian, a pediatrician, a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a contributor to the NFL Fatherhood Initiative. Dr. Meeker’s long experience in clinical medicine, her friendships with dads of many stripes, her family relationships, and her work with Christian fatherhood organizations uniquely qualify her to understand the pressures that dads are under today, the ways in which fathers leave an indelible mark on the health and well-being of their children, and the societal ramifications that evolve when our culture devalues fatherhood. In this book, Dr. Meeker seeks to celebrate masculine fatherhood and empower dads to know their irreplaceability and worth. She does this in part by debunking secular myths and lies about what children need. Additionally, her intention is to equip dads to overcome their own wounds, help dads to heal wounds they may have inflicted on their children, and remind dads that their Father in heaven is always there to support them.

“What happens is that when a father spends meaningful time with a child, the experience is magnified. As a father, you have the power to make time stand still. It’s the power to make fifteen minutes every other week seem like an hour of every night… you alone have this power. I have never heard children talk this way about teachers, or about other people who play important roles in their lives. It’s all about dad, because nothing is more important to children than acceptance and affirmation from their father.”

Moms, this is for you too. If you wish to bless the father of your children, may I suggest that you read this book with an open mind and a heart for the health and well being of your kids? As a wife and a mom, I read this book so that I could know how to best encourage and support my husband. I want my children to have the best father possible. I know that no man is perfect, but I also know that he is the perfect father for my children and that children naturally adore and admire their dads (even in situations of divorce where children do not live with their dad). This is how God designed it to be. He calls men and women into different roles for our own good, for the good of our children, and for His glory. The role that God has designed for dads cannot be fulfilled by moms.

“We fought a battle of the sexes without remembering that battles leave casualties – and we certainly did leave casualties… After thirty years of working as a pediatrician, I can say without a doubt that the sexual revolution was a disaster for kids – with families far more fractured and fragile than they were before and with kids far more endangered physically, through an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, and emotionally, because of a breakdown of the nurturing bonds kids need.”

We live in a very broken culture. One in which it is considered insensitive to say that children need their dads. We fear hurting women who have been abandoned, abused, or betrayed by the men in their lives. We hesitate to highlight the gaping hole that is left by a dad who leaves, for whatever reason. Tragically, however, no matter how much we fear hurting those women, children are absolutely hurt when we do not acknowledge the pain that fatherlessness causes in their lives. Our right concern about not wanting to cause pain to single and divorced moms has caused us to remain relatively silent on an issue that is causing destruction in the lives of men and children. Dads are not well served when we do not acknowledge their intrinsic and irreplaceable role. Children are absolutely harmed when they are left fatherless. Children need their fathers and, when a father cannot or will not be found, they need devoted father figures. This book unabashedly acknowledges these truths.

“One of my challenges to dads is to put their love on the line: prove it.”

Sometimes books like this can be disorganized. Even if the author’s points are perceptive and erudite, some books in this style wander all over the landscape and fail to really commission readers into making the necessary changes in their lives that will affect the results they are hoping for. Not so with this book. Dr. Meeker is categorically a physician who intends to look after the psychological and emotional health of her readers and to prescribe for them a heavy dose of truth and encouragement. Organized in an intelligent way, the book is divided into ten chapters, each of which explores an aspect of fatherhood. Each chapter starts with a friendly reflection on the topic and then moves into examples from Dr. Meeker’s clinical experience. Teaching and cheerleading the whole time, the chapter ends with practical advice that can be applied to the life of any father. Like her friends at the NFL Fatherhood Initiative, Dr. Meeker views the subject of this book, fathers, as men in need of a solid and practical plan to capitalize on their natural talents, hone their skills, and encourage confidence.

“‘Father’ is a word of such profound significance, meaning, and hope that it was the first word Jesus uttered when he was crucified. It was the cry of a man who agonized for the people he loved. Those people are us. And the Father he cried out for watches over us still, just as you, in your children’s imaginations, will always watch over them, just as Brett Favre’s father was always watching over him. Be worthy of your children. Be like your own Father, the one who is in heaven.”

Hero is available via Audible as well.