a good father

Today I had the opportunity to witness a good and loving father in action. Part of the beauty of watching this scenario is that I never understood a word he was saying (he didn't speak any English), but his love for his daughter and his wisdom as a parent was still so evident.

It was his daughter's first day at after school program, and he walked with her from the school to the program. When it came time to leave her there, she started to cry. He gave her a few reassuring words and then "left". She just stood there and cried more and more, and wouldn't accept any of our peace offerings of snack and a chair to sit down on.

At one point I looked up through the window in the classroom door to see her father standing at a distance down the hall, out of sight, but still carefully watching his daughter. After some time, when her crying only became more instead of less, he came back into the room and sat down next to her. Mostly he was quiet, but he also spoke some calm but firm words, as if to give her both reassurance and a pep talk.

Over the next two hours he would leave and sit out of sight in the stairwell for 20-30 minutes at a time, but would always return to his daughter to offer more gentle but firm words. He finally managed to get her to pay attention to a picture book I had offered, and it was beautiful to hear him describe the pictures in his quiet, calm voice.

It was a beautiful balance of firmness, authority, gentleness, and unfailing love and devotion.