JUNE: Here's to Involved Dads

Father’s Day…it is a day of honoring and praising dads.  BUT,  there is a generation of men who need recognition for helping to change fatherhood as an active integral part of daily family life. Some of these men did not have a blueprint to follow for the evolving family life that required a partnership in all aspects of the marriage. The women of their generation wanted partners in family life, not a division of labor.  Women sought higher education and wanted both a professional and a personal life like their male colleagues.

It was tough on couples who watched television shows that depicted the father as “king of his castle,” or a “bumbling buffoon” who is tricked by his “intelligently coy wife.”  stereotyping was embedded early. The “Baby Boomers” have a high divorce rate and a much has been attributed to it. Personally, the changing face of the roles in a marriage and women’s desires to have a partner and not another person to clean up after may have been another underlining issue.

Hats off to all you Dads, who took turns driving car pools, helping with bath time, reading books, did the grocery shopping, gave your wife a night off, went to parent-teacher conferences, stayed home with a sick child, stayed home when your wife got sick, etc., etc.  You are the generation who renegotiate the day-to-day intricacies of family living! Being a father takes more than changing a diaper, cleaning dishes, or cooking a meal.  Don’t get me wrong. Those actions are important and part of the parenting pact.  A card I saw once wraps it up, “The best thing a Father could do for his children is love their mother.”  Do I need to say anything more?