Name: Ricky Rencher Jr | City: Lompoc CA | IG: @rj_skinny93
What does being a father mean to you?
Being a father to me means your job never ends it’s a 24/7 nonstop process. Your learning , teaching and growing with your child as they grow up to teach them to be better than you was and guide them in the right direction to be a great person and to change the world. Being a parent never stops you learn from how your parents raised you and or grand parents but you use your own methods of parenting.. You also learn to love unconditionally. That’s what being a father means to me.
Describe your experience with your father growing up and how that impacted you today.
My experience with my father growing up wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either always had questions on why he was never there he and my moms divorced when I was two years old and he paid child support for me and my older brother now that I’m older me and my dads relationship is getting better. Everything heals with time and everything happens for a reason a season and a lifetime. He taught me that when I stayed with him when I was 20 years old.
What things did you take from your experience growing up into your own fatherhood journey?
What I took from my experience growing up I was raised by my mom and step dad at the time my moms got remarried and my little brothers dad was around from when I was 2 years old to about 16 he’s still in my life today. I want to be in my child’s life physically mentally and emotionally and help shape them into whatever they want to be when they get older. It’s never to late to turn your life around and time heals all.
Have you had any obstacles on your fatherhood journey?
Currently going through a case with the mother of my child currently can’t see my daughter for 3 years for a restraining order and my daughter was born on July 11th 2018 I didn’t find out I was her father until August 2019 and I found that out I immediately flip the script I knew I should’ve move my child’s mother in. My heart was in the right place at the time but me and my child’s mother just didn’t get along and I’m still dealing with this on going case with my child’s mother. I just want to be a blessing to anyone else out there going through what I’m going through or similar and know that don’t ever give up on yourself and if you have kids out there know that they need they’re father just as much as they do they’re mother’s.
What advice would you give others new on their fatherhood journey?
Advice I’d give others on their new journey being a father would be Don’t rush the process and take everything one day at a time and know being a father is for a lifetime and never ends and lead with love and be a blessing to somebody else.
If you could write a quick letter to your father, starting with “Dear Father,” what would you say?
Dear Father thank you for not being there physically growing up but now that I’m older I understand now what you was trying to tell me then what it takes to bring a father and what comes with it. And also I’ll know what not to do with my own child that you didn’t do with me. I’m thankful that we are building our relationship now as I’m getting older and me going through this situation help our relationship grow stronger than it’s been in years.
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