Article September 1, 2013

The father’s role

James Rutledge Peake

Originally published in the 1976 pamphlet titled “True Parenthood”

It is becoming more and more apparent that the father-to-be has an important part to play in the experience of having a baby. The notion that the period of gestation and infancy belongs almost exclusively to the mother is, happily, vanishing. In its place is the equalizing of the sexes - the fact that both father and mother have vital roles to play during and after pregnancy.

Upon learning that a baby is on the way, the father's response is highly important. He should welcome the child affectionately, and joyfully accept the child as the manifestation of divine Love in his experience. This warm, openhearted reception is akin to the reception that Christ Jesus, the master Christian, gave children who were brought to him. In Mark's Gospel it is reported that "he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me." Mark 9:36, 37;

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