- Get up early. Read the scripture. Pray for your wife, children, extended family, work problems, government, etc.
- Don’t leave for work without kissing your wife.
- Work hard. Don’t mail in your work. Break a sweat (figuratively if you have a desk job).
- Come home for lunch, if possible. Especially while the kids are young. Your wife will appreciate the adult interaction/conversation.
- When you get home from work, greet your children with a big smile. Make sure they know you delight in them. Tickle them. Tell them how excited you are to see them.
- Once you get home in the evening, put your phone away. Spend time with your wife and children, undistracted by texts, social media, work emails, or sports scores.
- Rally the troops to help their mom to get dinner on the table. Eat dinner together. Pray before the meal. Read a scripture verse afterwards, or a catechism question. Explain and discuss.
- Read books to your children. Play a board game with them. Help with their homework, and/or discuss what they’ve been learning in school and help them comprehend the concepts. If the weather is good, go for a walk, toss a football, scoop up some ice cream for the whole family.
- Be involved in the bedtime routine. Get the bubble bath ready. Brush the teeth of the little ones. Wrestle with the older ones. Make up stories to tell them. Tell them a story about when you were a child. Pray aloud for each child by name. At some point in the evening, you may (very likely) need to discipline them. Give them spankings, restore them to familial fellowship, and let the good times rolls.
- Once the kids are in bed, spend time with your wife. Read a book with her. Watch a good show/movie. Make love. Ask about her thoughts on some text of Scripture, cultural event, theological issue and discuss.
- Before you drift off to sleep, talk with your wife about the cute/funny things the kids did that day or recently. Laugh with her. Rejoice in the fruit of your union with her. Kiss her. Pray with her.
- Ask God to bless your home before you go to sleep. Kiss your wife again.
- Go to sleep at a reasonable hour, get a good night’s sleep. That way you can get up on time the next day, and do it all over again.
Thirteen Ways to Cultivate Godly Manhood
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