James wrote this in 2016, at 13 years old—for Father’s Day, I suppose. I had forgotten about it until it came up in my FB memories. He comments on some things I had done quite on purpose. Glad it worked out so well!
One of the coolest things about my Dad is that he finds it worthwhile to think through things, and to know the whole truth, wherever it may lead. Unlike many people, my Dad actually keeps an open mind, he is willing to discuss ideas that differ from his own, and if it seems to line up with reality, he will adopt the new idea and replace the old one.
~James Pelham. 2016. At age 13.
Something that is pretty cool and different about my Dad is that he has treated me like a person since I was born and has been talking about ideas with me since I could really talk. Now we often talk about things he finds in the Bible, and I tell him about things in some culture’s mythology that seem to line up with it. He has never treated me like he was better than me just because he was an adult and I was a child.
My Dad hasn’t expected me to just be good, or just be obedient, he has trained me to be obedient. He would also tell me why he wanted me to do something so I could do it without being told in the future. My Dad has also taught me how to deal with disappointment, how to take it in stride and say, ‘Ok, I guess we can’t do it today, maybe tomorrow’ or, ‘Well, it wasn’t life changing, so I’ll be ok.’
