be replaced

10 Reasons Why You Can’t Be Replaced

The David Livingstone Birthplace Museum in Scotland is a treasure trove. You can learn a lot there about Livingstone’s son Robert. In 1863, when he was 16, he traveled to Africa without permission in order to see his father. When his father failed to meet him, Robert impetuously boarded a vessel bound for the new world. Arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, he enlisted in the Union Army as a substitute, under the name “Rupert Vincent.” Robert was wounded in battle and just before he died, Private Rupert Vincent revealed his real name. “I am Robert Livingstone,” he said. It seems unbelievable that a man could pay money for someone else to substitute for him in the Army.

No one can come close to replacing you in your most crucial role as your children’s father.

While Robert could step in for somebody else, no one can come close to replacing you in your most crucial role as your children’s father. You have a unique place and can be a stunning influence for generations to come. You may be dissatisfied in your career, flat broke, or the butt of your siblings’ jokes, but you’re spectacularly special because there will never be anyone who can substitute for you as a father. Here are 10 reasons why you can’t be replaced.

1. There’s only one you, and you’re it!

You are a unique creation, and your children are rooted in who you are. Some of the things you do can be imitated, but no one else on earth is capable of stepping in to become the man you are.

2. Your children are imprinted on you.

A baby duck will attach to the first large object it sees after birth, typically its mother. Similarly, you are your kids’ alpha figure. It’s a quality unique to you, and it can never be replaced.

3. No one knows your children like you do.

From their first diaper change to their first at-bat in Little League, you know your children inside and out.

4. You are a family.

A family is not a casual phenomenon. A family is built on a covenant unlike any other. As the dad, you occupy a critically important role that can’t be occupied by anyone else.

5. Your children have your DNA.

Literally, part of you is a part of your children. Your genetic makeup is encoded into them. That fact is yours and yours alone.

6. No one can love them like you do.

Your love comes from your heart and from your experience. Fun, pain, challenge, playtime, good times, and the not-so-good times. It’s all yours, and your love is built on a lifetime of being a dad.

7. You are their connection to your family history.

Nothing can replace your heritage and the custodial chain of family history that comes through you.

8. You have so much to teach them.

The things you have to teach belong to you alone. That special whistle, your stories, the secret tricks to making someone laugh…

9. You are a memory maker.

Your children may be just two or three years old, or they may be teenagers. Regardless, you are the one who makes memory opportunities and that is pricelessly irreplaceable.

10. Your kids know your sense of humor.

Your kids get you. They laugh at your lame dad jokes. Your kids love your stories. They honestly think you’re funny!

Sound off: What are some other reasons you can’t be replaced?

Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What are some things in your life that you feel like you couldn’t live without?”