What is one way fathers can bless their family?

Trent Moody explains in this video that a good shepherd knows his flock. And as parents, we need to know our children. For him, one of the best things to do is is to try to communicate openly. And even if a child does have a differing view, it is important to not immediately come down on that child, but to listen to their concerns.

I found that in my family, one of the best things to do is to try to communicate openly and even if that child does have a differing view, not to immediately come down on that child but to listen to their concerns. It may be that they just don't understand why. It may be that they weren't paying attention but it may be something that's deeper than that that we really need to spend time to. You know it's like some illnesses, some are surface illnesses. It's a scratch on the arm.

We put a little medicine on it and we're fine, put a band-aid on it. Some illnesses are much deeper. Some are in the bone. Some are in inside of organs and it takes longer, it takes patience and it takes gentle care and love to heal those things. So we need to see that in our children as well and help that child understand these things aren't fixed very quickly.

So again, go to your parents and talk to them about that. And then at the same time, I've kind of touched on this, but speaking towards parents, you have that responsibility to know your children. A good shepherd knows his flock, and as parents we need to know our children. And again, I'm speaking to myself here, I need to do that more often. And when you have a lot of children, that does make it challenging, but we have the responsibility to do that.

We need to be noticing changes in our children. Are they more quiet? Are they more distant? Just like if you were taking care of a flock, we used to have cattle and you would typically see if there was one off by itself, you would see if one was limping, you would know that cattle needs treatment. Something's wrong.

Or if it's making a certain sound. So listen to what your children are saying. Parents notice if that child is withdrawing from family activity. Those are warning signs. Those are red flags for you and when you see those flags, go and search it out and talk to your children and see where their heart is.

And I think many of those things can be dealt with when it's in seed form before it grows into something much worse. You