There is a paragraph in Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength, where he is reflecting on the time he and his dad spent together. The paragraph ends like this, "I knew I was spending as much time as I could with my kids, but compared to my dad, it just didn't seem like I was doing enough. I was grateful for the times we had shared as a family but I was disappointed in myself" (p. 232).
It is better to be a disappointed father than a father who is a disappointment to his child. As fathers, we should be aware of the danger we ourselves face. Disappointment can lead to discouragement. Discouragement can lead to despair. Despair can lead to disengagement. Disengagement can lead to detachment. Detachment can lead to destruction. Destruction can lead to the death of the relationship. A dead relationship means the father is no longer contributing positively to the growth of the child, nurturing life within the child, or encouraging the child to be fruitful in life -- the father has become a disappointment to his child. When a father is disappointed in himself, this is a call to humble himself before God and seek His strength to change before he allows the disappointment within himself to change him from being identified as the child's father into a man his child identifies as a disappointment of a father.
