Actor Yomi Fash' Interview On What Fatherhood Has Taught Him...

Nollywood actor, Yomi Fash Lanso, has shared what fatherhood has taught him  

What does fatherhood mean to you?


Let me say parenthood and not fatherhood alone because it is a combination of both. Parenthood is a responsibility that parents shoulder together. Fatherhood is thus a sole responsibility of the man as the mirror of the family to the extent that whatever happens in terms of the behavioural patterns of the children is traceable to the father.


Also, whatever the children become in life is linked to the father because they looked up to him when they were young. They copy the attitudes and ways of life of the father who is the mirror in which they see themselves.



When did you become a father?

It was in 2004; that was the year I started nursing children.


Was your child gender what you wished for?


Everybody wants to have a male child as far as I know. Only a few will say they don’t care about the gender of their children. I think it is an age-old notion which has no correlation anyway. We procreate and believe that the gender will be determined by God even though science is trying to work out many things. I grew up with the belief that God is the doer of everything and that is my conviction. Whichever gender anyone has, it is that the child will represent the person the way he or she wants to be represented. In my case, I have three boys.


How do you manage your career and roles as a father?


The important thing is that when one has a good woman as a wife, she will be there no matter how busy the husband is. She is the one that will make the children understand that their father is out trying to work to cater for the family. She will tell them not to miss their father too much. When the father is at home, the children must know that he is at home with the way he relates with them. When a man is out of the house, the children should miss him and even disturb their mother to call him to know when he will be home.

 If, as a father, you return home and your children are hiding at a corner, it shows you are not the commander of that home. You need to adjust. Even if your children do anything wrong, they will still come to you and own up to what they did. 

They know that you will scold them, but you will do it lovingly. But when you overdo things, they will run away from you. You can’t place a food before a mad man and hold a cane talk less of doing that to a sane person. From my point of view, I task all fathers to make their houses a home that they truly should be.

from Punch