I'd agree; that's why I questioned the wording of that sentence.

Their is no manual in being a dad , Do we crack down for that issue , or let it slide . Etc . I really think most of us Fathers are unsure of ourselves in certain situations.
Recently my wife told me I am a much better Grand Father then I was a father . It was meant as a compliment .. I think . ;0)
But I do have more confidence as a Grand Pa, and It is so much easier for me to show love in more situations then I did with my own kids doing similiar things .

After reading “Wild at Heart,” I don't believe it's that simple. Many of these young males are themselves looking for validation — often, inappropriately, from girlfriends — that they should have (but never) received from their dads, so when they get young women (often in the same boat) pregnant they're unable to “man up” and take care of their responsibilities — and in fact, some of those girls even tell them to leave. And that goes back generations; were my own dad living today he would be 78 but just as lost as he was at the age of 5.

It is too bad, and probably irreversible, that in our society we have let those young men there is no need or obligation for them to become good fathers or even simply be present. In fact, why sacrifice one's sexual and personal freedom to tie oneself to the mother of their child through marriage?

I agree with the sentiments expressed wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, too few people care to be good fathers (or mothers, for that matter).

Like many fathers today, my father’s work sometimes kept him away from home for long stretches. I remember as a five-year-old, if I refused to obey, all my mother needed to do was to show me his picture. “Your Papa wouldn’t like it,” she’d tell me, and I’d give in.

I saw a study once that looked at three sets of families – 1) families in which a father and a mother playing an active role, 2) families with a single mother and the father had either abandoned her, gotten a divorce or had never been present, and 3) families with a single mother where the father had died.

The first two cases of children all showed the classic symptoms that we all are aware of – greater incidence of delinquency, drug use, sex and lower education levels, etc. However, the third group more closely mirrored the first group. The survey suggested that it was mainly because the mother had someone to point to like Johann's mother did when he was absent to say “your father, even though he's no longer with us, wouldn't like what you're doing. You're disrespecting him.” In the second case, the mother most likely didn't respect the father so how could she expect her children to.

But fatherhood is not for everyone: It is not for cowards or for those who are unsure of themselves.

This is my one quibble… I'm a father, and I'm unsure of myself. Am I doomed to fail? Who isn't unsure of themselves at times? Hmmm… Perhaps Johann meant something else.