10 Reasons Why My Husband is a Great Foster Dad

Today is Father’s Day, and with that, I wanted to write something to honor my husband.  Not only is he an amazing father to our son, he’s taken on the role of foster dad and has loved these children as his own.  I couldn’t do it without him.  So without further ado, here are 10 things that make him a great dad and foster parent.

1. He’s good in emergencies.  We’ve had a few scary moments throughout our marriage from being robbed at gunpoint to my husband giving our 4-day-old son CPR while also talking to a 911 dispatcher.  In situations where I freeze, he jumps straight into action.

2.  He’s laidback.  My husband and I are alike in this way.  We can roll with the punches and not get bent out of shape, which means my husband has a great tolerance level for the small, daily frustrations of parenting.  3 hours of nonstop screaming in the car?  Nothing a little music can’t fix.

3.  He’s fantastic with babies.  This is a wonderful thing since we foster little kids.  Some men just have no clue what to do with a tiny, crying, pooping newborn.  Not him.  He speaks their language (which annoyed me to no end when our newborn son would fuss all day long to instantly fall asleep when Daddy came home from work).

4.  He lets go of things outside of his control.  This is one of my favorite qualities because I can never seem to get a handle on this.  When we’ve been dirt poor and I was stressing over bills, his advice was always the same, “Don’t worry about it.  It’ll be okay, and worrying won’t help.”  And when I’ve wanted to write the ending of our foster care journey, he’s the one to remind me to just let it go.  It’s out of my control

5.  He can laugh it off.  I don’t always understand his sense of humor (as an example, he thinks this is hilarious), but I can appreciate the fact that he doesn’t take life too seriously.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

6.   He loves to talk big ideas.  I love that my husband is willing to talk about anything and enjoys a good discussion.  I look forward to when our kids are older and they can just sit down and talk about anything from God to politics.  I know he’ll always be ready for any type of conversation.

7.  He’s stable.  We live in a chaotic world.  People don’t know who they are or what their purpose is, and they’re caught up in satisfying impulses.  My husband can model what a man and a dad should be.  That alone is everything for our foster children.

8.  He’s generous.  This is another area I’ve had to grow in and learn to accept about my husband.  His generosity always comes with personal sacrifice, and I’ve had to trust God and trust him every single time he’s felt led to give.  We’ve had homeless acquaintances stay with us, walked with a drug addict through recovery, provided a student’s family with a fridge and pantry of food and supplies when we hardly had two pennies to rub together ourselves.  He’s put some elbow grease into cleaning up puke after giving a drunken stranger a ride in the car.  All of it has been my husband.  He has always been able to understand that nothing we have on this earth is truly ours.  And I hope, hope, hope our children learn that from him and can be generous in a way that requires sacrifice.

9.  He listens.  He’s a terrific sounding board.  I take advantage of this often and appreciate his advice.  He’ll be able to give level-headed advice to our children when they ask the tough questions.

10.  He’s present.  We want our foster children to feel what it’s like to have two parents who are there for them, who come home after work, who take an interest in them, who love unconditionally.  We might not always be in their lives, but we want to present a new normal while they’re here.  We want them to see what being part of a stable, healthy family is like, and I could not do that alone.