What Men Can Do To Have Healthier Families
– © 2004 by John H. Driggs

Too many family men play peripheral heroic roles in their families and they miss the immense fulfillment of engaged family love. They may behave good heartedly and responsibly in the world outside the home but fail to be as passionately connected with their families. Family men may feel it's enough that they bring home the bacon and put in an appearance at home. They may go through the motions of loving. Such decent guys might feel that the nitty-gritty details of family devotion can be left up to their wives and children to work out, even when their wives themselves also work outside the home. Too many family men look at the home as a safe refuge from the pressures of the outside world and fail to see their emotional responsibilities towards their loved ones at home. Instead, they believe that loved ones should be more understanding of their needs and stay out of their way. This sad pattern of emotionally absent family men is not about men having bad character, but about men being scared to death of their own emotionality and men feeling emotionally less significant thanks to social sex role stereotyping. When men stay in utilitarian roles in their families they miss out on the deep meaning of committed family love – the very meaning of life itself – and they fail to be whole persons. Continued...