As a Father I have been a little jealous about how Mother's Day seems to be celebrated with so much more feeling than Father's Day. Do you know that Father's Day was only made an official US holiday in 1972---Mothers Day was started in 1908. I know for most people growing up their Mother's were the ones with whom they developed stronger bonds. It is unusual for a small child to run to their father when they hurt themselves. Mother's just seem to accept and cherish the parental role more than many fathers. Is it just hormonal? Have we missed the boat in raising our boys that caring for people is somehow "unmanly?" One would hope that each future generation would make parenting more of a shared responsibility. So for all those fellow Dads out there who have tried to be that type of parent---Happy Father's Day!
P.S
OK so a confession that I hate to admit. My wife and I have been addicted to the Teen Parent show on MTV. So how does someone our age even know what is on MTV? I was flipping through the channels one day a year ago and went down farther in the channels then I usually do. I came onto a show with a young single woman talking about how her boyfriend had not been there for her after their child had been born. It drew us into the story and I found out that it was a series. I set my DVR to record the episodes and like many reality shows the stories were interesting. Interestingly the shows are produced by the actor Morgan Freeman. Little did I realize that US magazine and others that you see at the checkout lines follow these women extensively.
Sadly, most of the fathers in this show are not prepared to be parents and are able to ignore their child's mother and their responsibilities. The mothers are usually trying to more ahead with their education while the fathers are trying unsuccessfully to find minimum wage jobs.
First off, happy Father's Day. I hope you were able to spend some quality time with your kids this weekend.
ReplyDeleteSecond, this is a great post. You made me laugh out loud when I read your PS about how you "went down farther in the channels then I usually do" and ran across Teen Mom. I'm not a loyal follower of this show, but my wife enjoys it so from time to time, I'll sit in and watch it with her. Unfortunately there's so much going on in that show, I'm not sure I can watch it regularly. I walk away sometimes laughing (the kids are cute), angry (there is way to much yelling in front of the children), and sometimes even sadness (it's tough watching birth fathers, and mothers for that matter, not putting their kids well being first). I learn a lot about how parents are NOT to act in front of their children from that show.
Third, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I fell into the same trap you fell into with Morgan Freeman being the producer. I was like "Wow I can't believe he is the producer of this." My wife laughed at me and said "It's not THAT Morgan Freeman." I did some searching and sure enough she was right. Here you go: Article on Morgan Freeman in the NY Times