What a great idea - Dad and son having breakfast together, making time for each other and going out to do it somewhere a bit special thanks to the college. That, you have to like.
We were all enjoying breakfast so much that I found myself agreeing it would be interesting to hear what the guest speaker had to say, before promptly reminding myself that the guest speaker was me. A daunting thought.
What do you speak about to a gathering of fathers and sons? What can you say to men, young and not so young, that means anything more than their own experiences together?
I don't believe you can tell them anything that they don't already know so I didn't try. My tactic was to recount my experience of bringing up boys which is ongoing and fun.
The first boy I raised, Henry, is almost 18. The second, Ben, is just 8-months-old. But like a lot of dads, I was struggling to put into words just what the heck I had learned about being a dad to boys in all those years.
In the end I decided that what I had learnt had been taught to me by the boys themselves. Mostly by Henry through sheer time.
What Henry taught me is that time is about the only thing that matters. If you love your sons, then the very best thing you can give them is your time.
And so, I concluded, Benjamin and I owed Henry a heck of a lot.
