“When you’re young, you think your dad is Superman.
Then you grow up, and you realize he’s just
a regular guy who wears a cape.” —Dave Attell
The best dads demonstrate kindness, strength, devotion, and delight, while inspiring their children to greatness. Let’s look at five of history’s finest fathers who did just that:
Kindness: Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt Jr. once called his father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., “the best man I ever knew.” In his autobiography, the junior Roosevelt penned a moving tribute to his father, stating, “He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness and great unselfishness.”
Apparently, Theodore Sr. was also ahead of his time: He applied the same standards to his sons as he did to his daughters, particularly where clean living was concerned.
“He made us understand that …what was wrong in a woman could not be right in a man. ”
A tireless worker, Teddy’s father was interested in social reform and performed an immense amount of “practical charitable work.”
He was a big, powerful man,” the former president wrote, “with a leonine face and his heart filled with gentleness for those who needed help or protection.”
Inspiration: Jim Henson
The best dads inspire their children to achieve their dreams. Jim Henson was one of those dads. A father of five, Henson became world famous as the creator of the Muppets and “Sesame Street.”
Henson worked long hours, but rather than resent their father for it, Henson’s children admired him, according to his son Brian.
“My dad would always say, ‘If something is not inspiring, then do something that is.’ He was an inspiration to everyone.”
When Jim died in 1990 at age 53, the world mourned with the Henson family. “I had the unique comfort that the world knew him and was sad with me,” Brian said.
All of Henson’s children are carrying on his legacy, either by serving as officers in one of Jim’s puppetry corporations, or as puppeteers themselves.
Delight: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prolific poet and naturalist Ralph Waldo Emerson always made time for his four children, and he actively encouraged their natural curiosity and sense of wonder toward the world around them. Emerson’s daughter Ellen recalled:
“By the time I was eleven, I began to ask questions…I remember not only the immense pleasure I was having…and how good it was of Father to go into things so minutely and faithfully, and evidently to have as good a time as I did over it.”
Daughter Edith regarded her father’s treatment of his children as extremely wise. If they were squabbling or otherwise misbehaving, he would direct one of them to go outside and look at the clouds. “It was a charming diversion,” she later wrote.
On Sundays, Emerson would take his children on long walks in the woods, where he would point out various flowers, tree types, and birds.
His wisdom and counsel were often sought out by young people, to whom he would advise: “Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self.”
Strength: Frederick Douglass
African-American abolitionist and human rights advocate Frederick Douglass endured brutal treatment as a slave until he escaped from a Maryland plantation at age 20. Days later, he married the love of his life, and his first child was born a year afterward. Over the years, he had four more.
The cruelty of Douglass’ upbringing likely influenced his views on parenting. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,” he later wrote.
Despite never knowing his own father, Douglass illustrated deep insight into the importance of fatherhood and faithfully executed the role himself.
Two of his sons joined the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and fought for the Union.
His other children went on to become activists, teachers and journalists.
Devotion: Dick Hoyt
In 1977, Rick Hoyt, a 15-year-old quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, asked to be involved in a five-mile charity race. Though not a competitive runner at the time, Rick’s father pushed the boy in his wheelchair the entire distance.
Rick later told his father, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” It was the start of something amazing.
Over the next four decades, “Team Hoyt” completed more than 1,100 races, including 72 marathons, 32 Boston Marathons and six Ironman Triathlons. During the swimming portion of the triathlon, Dick pulled his son in a special boat; he then carried him in a special seat on the front of his bicycle, and pushed him in a special wheelchair as he ran:
“When my dads out there with me on a run, a special bond forms between us,” Rick Hoyt said in 2009 (with the help of his computer voice program). “And it feels like there is nothing Dad and I cannot do.”
Dick Hoyt passed away on March 17, 2021, at the age of 80.
Sources:
Featured Image: Adobe, License Granted
Bart;eby
Closer Weekly
Ralph Waldo Emerson House
Biography.com
Triathlon Inspires