[June 14, 2026] In a long series of lectures by Dr. Jordan Peterson, one of the messages that consistently arises from them is that parents have a moral obligation to encourage their children to go out into the world. For the child to be who they can be. To be the best they can be. And the father can do that, at least in part, by being the one who fails.
If you’re a good father, you are radically encouraging your children to go out into the world and prevail. You don’t shelter them. You push them out, and you say, “No matter what comes your way, kid, I’ve got confidence that you can handle it, no matter how challenging or daunting.” And when you see your children doing that, and you’re a good father, it fills you with gratitude and love to see them go out and be a good person.
By your encouragement, you’re offering them to pursue the good. You’re sacrificing them to the good, to what’s highest. That’s offering your children to the world, the faithful offering of your child. And if you’re a good father, you teach them to handle disaster and malevolence.
You’re not keeping them for yourself, selfishly. You’re telling them that they can go out and live their life and live it properly, despite those terrible challenges that are surely coming their way.. That’s the parallel to the story of Isaac’s sacrifice in the Bible.
You don’t want for your son what it is that you want for him. You want what is best for your son and for the world. And, you let go of that child in precise proportion to your desire to have that happen. Freud said something like “the good mother fails.”
The good mother fails, which means that as a mother, you pull back and pull back and let your child hit himself against the world, and you fail to protect them. By failing to protect them, you encourage and elevate them to the point that you are no longer necessary. The point is that you are supposed to remove yourself from their life’s development by encouraging your child to be the best possible person that child can be.
As the parent, you sacrifice all your desires to that end. You want them to move forward into the world as a “light on a hill.” If you have any sense, at least, that is what you want. You don’t get to keep your children at home because you need them.
A recent and unfortunate post-modern narrative has sprung up that goes like this: “Fathers aren’t necessary, a single mother can do just as good a job as a married couple.” That is false. On average, the facts are clear: children from intact families do much better, and fatherlessness is a complete catastrophe across multiple socio-metric dimensions.
The good father is precisely someone who is willing to sacrifice his child to the ultimate good.
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Strong boss babes will save the day. ha ha ha ha ha /sarc
Another classic from Gen. Satterfield.
A good father succeeds by willingly failing to shelter his children from the world, pushing them out to face challenges with confidence that they can prevail. By encouraging children to pursue the highest good rather than keeping them for himself, the father makes the faithful offering of his child to life itself. The good father teaches his children to handle disaster and malevolence, preparing them to live properly despite the terrible challenges that will surely come. Just as Freud noted the good mother fails by pulling back protection, the good father lets go in proportion to his desire for his child’s success. Parents sacrifice their own desires so their children can become a “light on a hill,” independent and capable in the world. The post-modern claim that fathers are unnecessary is false—intact families with fathers produce far better outcomes for children across every measurable dimension. True fatherhood means sacrificing your child to the ultimate good, not clinging selfishly to their presence at home. On Flag Day and heading into Father’s Day, this truth stands clear: strong, courageous fathers are essential to strong families and a thriving society.
This article is similar to The Good Mother Fails from three years ago. https://www.theleadermaker.com/the-good-mother-fails. Both great. Thanks!!!!!
Great article for fathers on Flag Day. In a week from today will be Father’s Day and that is what Gen. Satterfield is building up to in this article. Fathers matter far more than we tend to give credit to. They are the reason families do well. Without fathers, families are destroyed. There are super rare exceptions, and in those exceptions there are still good men involved. Nuff said. Fathers make it happen.
Thank you, Liz. Excellent article tying Peterson’s insights to fatherhood. Good fathers push children toward independence and resilience. Sacrificing personal desires for their growth mirrors biblical lessons. Liz, your comment nails it—fathers are essential. Intact families thrive with strong paternal guidance. Fatherlessness harms society across metrics. This builds perfectly toward Father’s Day. Well done on emphasizing family and duty.
We need more in-family fathers. The West is in danger from radical leftists who want to destroy the family, and they are doing a damn good job of it with the full help by the government.