The Snowball Method Of Being A Good Husband And A Good Dad
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In my writing about personal finances, I have discussed the snowball method to eliminate debt on more than one occasion.
Last night I was reading a post over at Discovering Dad in which Jeremy was tackling the question on whether it is more important to be a good dad or a good husband.
In the post, Jeremy menioned: I am an individual first; husband second; dad third; and, everything else falls later on the list.
This got me to thinking that one can really apply the concepts of the snowball method into being a good husband and a good dad.
When discussing the snowball method in terms of debt, one tackles the highest interest rate first and once that debt is eliminated the payment is rolled into the payment for the next debt. Conceptually, your debt payment is like a snowball and continues to grow larger and larger as you roll down the hill.
The same principles apply to being a good husband and father.
Instead of interest rates and debt payments, we have personal characteristics and relationships.
By making an effort to be an upstanding man, including characteristics such as being honest, respectful, loyal, hard working - you are laying the foundation to becoming a good husband.
As a good husband, you will demonstrate that you also understand the importance of being caring, compassionate, dependable, humble, and many more. Your children will witness these characteristics on a regular basis and will learn from your example - thus laying the foundation to becoming a good father as well.
While this might make it sound like being a good husband or good father is easy - hardly, it requires a lot of hard work - I can tell you that starting off as an undesirable man is going to make it all that much more difficult to be the husband or father that you want to be.
When you find yourself facing the question that Jeremy has been asked about whether it is more important to be a good dad or a good husband, remember that it all starts with being a good man and snowballs from there.
Bill Parlaman is owner of 
I’m almost inclined to think about it in an equal but opposite direction. Maybe it’s the philanthropist in me, but I almost feel like you should be a good father first, simply because it’s your children that need you the most.
Michael Kwan’s last blog post..What’s Up Wednesdays: Twitter Edition
Michael, while I understand where you are coming from, one would hopefully be a good man by the time you are bringing children into the world.
While that is not always the case, it seems that until the man himself is good that he will struggle to be a good father.
Good point by both dads here. I think of it more as declaring what your goals are. Then setting priorities in direction of goals. If you want to be a good dad, you’ll have to be a good person and vice versa. they are both sides of the same coin … but it depends on the perspective of the judge.
Damien Riley’s last blog post..Where the Wild Things Are
Good analogy Derek, and I couldn’t agree more. Start with the thing that makes the difference first - yourself.
Jeremy (Discovering Dad)s last blog post..What Moms Really Think About - A Series for Dads (Recap)