Father-son relationships can be complex. Fathers and sons with widely different interests can find it hard to relate to one another.

Sometimes dads and sons feel competitive against one another. Their male tendencies to not communicate feelings are compounded as both want a better father-son relationship but neither one quite knows how to go about it.

Recognize that sons are influenced by their fathers.  Sons learn about being a man primarily by watching their fathers. A father’s influence on his son’s personal development is often unseen but nonetheless real.

As a young man watches his father interact with his mother, he learns about respect or disrespect, about how men and women interact and about how men should deal with conflict and differences.

As he watches his dad interact with other men, he will learn how men talk, how they relate with one another and how they deal with masculine issues.

Understanding that a father’s influence on his son is unmatched will help dads think more deeply about their relationship with their sons and take that relationship seriously.

Get involved in father-son activities. Fathers and sons can have quality time by developing interests in same things. Fathers can spend time with their sons and their friends every week. These structured experiences create opportunities to grow closer.

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Listen to your sons. Men seem in general to struggle with effective communication. Fathers should listen to their sons without judgment and without trying to fix things too soon. This will go a long way to building a lasting relationship.

Look for opportunities to be with your sons when you can just listen. Going to a sporting event, or taking a road trip can all be effective ways to create a listening environment.

Don’t be afraid of the big talk. Take the time to teach your sons about sex and relationships. Being open to having these conversations will help your sons develop better attitudes about sex and girls in general.

With the ever-increasing presence of sex in the media, on the computer and in conversations with their friends, you will find your relationship not as strong as it could be if you avoid talking about these difficult subjects and let them develop their attitudes about sex and relationships from other sources who may not share your values.

Focus on the positives. Children are bombarded with negative messages all around them. Fathers need to catch them doing things right and communicate their approval.

They should create positive ways to celebrate their accomplishments. Feeding them constant reinforcement will help build relationships of trust and overcome this constant barrage of negativism that they confront daily.

Focusing on their sons, spending positive time together and talking about life lessons, will help fathers and sons develop nurturing and meaningful relationships and help sons form attitudes, which will allow them to develop into good men.