Remembering Father
Some of the influences that shaped your life
By Arlene Harder, MA, MFT and John Fabian, Ph.D.
“It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was..”
— Anne Sexton, All God’s Children Need Radio
“I wanted him to cherish and approve of me, not as he had when I was a child, but as the woman I was, who had her own mind and had made her own choices.”
— Adrienne Rich, Split at the Root
“Cartoon of a wedding ceremony in which the minister asks the groom, “And do you, Roger, promise not to be like your father?”
— Bunny Hoest and John Reiner in, Parade magazine
Topic Stimulators
- How did your father show he cared about you?
- How did your father criticize you?
- In what ways do you wish you father had been different?
- How did your father’s childhood impact his life?
- How do you allow your father to interfere in your life today?
- What is the best thing your father said or did that made a positive impact on you?
- When do you see your father in you?