Tomorrow is Father’s Day in Australia. It’ll be my husband’s first Father’s Day and that’s pretty special! The highest source of wisdom on the internet (I kid, it’s just Wikipedia.) says the day is about honouring dads, paternal bonds and the influence of fatherhood in society. Honouring dads. I think that’s a really important thing to do. Male parenting is not often talked about, recognized or thought of as much as motherhood is. I’ve seen male parenting Facebook pages every now and then but compared to the mothering pages out there, there’s barely any! Support for Dads is really important in my opinion. Dads not only have a child to learn but also a new partner… one who is a mother more often than she is a wife on some days. That’s a shitty part of parenting but it’s true – Mark gets swept to the side sometimes and he is left going “hey, what about me!” It’s tough.O is very lucky to have Mark as a father. He has been nothing but amazing, starting with the day he pulled her out. Yeah, he saw everything! Once her head was out he rolled his sleeves up (literally), and with my next push he lifted her from me and onto my chest. What a magical thing, to be able to say he was the first to hold her (even if it was only for 3 seconds before she was skin to skin with me!). The way Olivia lights up when her father walks in the room is beautiful.
Dad’s have this weird role where they do the scary (dangerous?) activities with their kids that Mum’s just don’t do. Today was a good example; Mark clipped* a peg onto O’s hand while she was playing with the basket full of them. I would never do that! They do the things they find funny to the poor child! Remember that photo going around Facebook of the dad squishing the child’s face so it looked like a Pug dog? It’s just the Dad’s role. And I’ll never forget the day I first saw him holding O upside down and I freaked out, but she was all smiles, dangling and swinging inverted in the air by the ankles!
My own father is just as special and without him I wouldn’t be half the person I am today. He has done amazing things for me and literally saved my life. So happy Father’s Day to Mark, my father, and all the dads out there, especially the ones who will be waking up to their very first Father’s Day.
I wanted to post a picture of Mark’s gift from O, but in case he reads this post I’ll have to wait and instead share a photo of a drawer holding the wrapped goodies 😉
*Of course it didn’t hurt her
Hippie Mumma 