In that location are a few words that come to mind when I think almost the by couple years of my life: challenging, rewarding, transformative—they roll off the tip of my tongue in an instant. In the bridge of a year my two adept friends LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined me on the Miami Heat, I struggled through a painful, public divorce, and I became the full-time parent to my two immature sons, Zaire and Zion.

I've had some ups and downs lately, but the memories of the unpleasant times disappear quickly, in part because of moments like the 1 recently when I was able to surprise my younger son, Zion, at his school with cupcakes for his quaternary birthday. It was the day after we'd won the Eastern Conference finals, just that victory couldn't compare with the huge smiling on Zion's confront at that moment. I will never forget it. Bad memories vanish each morning when I walk into both of my sons' bedrooms to wake them upward for school—their laughter gives me all I need to face whatever is happening in my life. Non as well long ago, due to custody problems, I wasn't allowed to run across my sons for long periods of time, or was given the chance to see them for only a few hours with no thought of if or when I'd come across them once again. I can't describe how trying those days were, fighting for full custody while also working every bit a professional basketball player nine months of the year. I just knew I wanted to be with my kids.

I was seriously motivated to be a full-time parent for my sons. My female parent and father weren't together when I was a child growing up in Chicago, and early on my mother roughshod victim to drug abuse. At ix years old, I moved in with my father because my mother could no longer intendance for me. Looking back, I at present meet and so many similarities between my own childhood and that of my sons. My father stepped in when I needed him, and that gave me the chance for a better life. That'southward what I'm doing for my boys now.

All children need their fathers, merely boys especially need fathers to teach them how to be men. I remember wanting that so badly before I went to alive with my dad. I wanted someone to teach me how to tie a tie and walk the walk, things simply a man can teach a boy. Of class, back then, I never could have imagined being in the same situation someday with my own kids. My dad and I bumped heads a lot—we were so alike, both of us built-in competitors. My older son, Zaire, is exactly the same way. We'll battle on the court when I'm 39 and he'due south 19. He's nine at present, and he'due south grown up with basketball. Zion could take information technology or leave it, which is absurd by me.

Today, I constantly tell my dad how much I capeesh what he did for me. I call up you really accept to become a parent to understand what yous will endure to be there for your kids. I could say I was surprised at the criticism I received for traveling from Miami to Chicago so often during the regular flavor for my custody court cases, just nix really surprises me anymore. I had a duty to fight to be with my kids, and I did it.

Thankfully, I've gotten a lot of support from my mother, sister, and others in taking care of my boys and making their new living arrangements a smooth and happy transition. Going forward, I want my sons to take a healthy relationship with their mother, and that'south something we're working on. I hope to have a peachy relationship with her one day too, because I know how much it meant to me to come across my parents get along as fourth dimension went on.

I tin can't say what nosotros'll do for Male parent's Solar day, considering since my sons came to live with me about two months agone, every day has been like Father'southward Day. I simply want people—men, and men of color in particular—to hear my story and know that their children need them and that it's their responsibility to exist there for them. We take to step up equally men and do our part. There are no excuses.

Wade is a guard for the Miami Heat and was recently appointed by President Obama to a new parenting plan geared toward encouraging fathers to become more involved in their children's lives.