No Respect

Father’s Day is Sunday, so I wanted to re-post this for anyone who didn’t get a chance to check it out on ChunkyMonkeyBumz last month.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Father’s Day is fast approaching and I realized this year that, as dads, we get no respect. It’s not that moms don’t deserve everything they get for Mother’s Day, but, I think, especially in this day and age, that dads deserve more. And my wife agrees. In fact, this exact topic was Mama Bird’s idea. Dads these days are more involved than ever before. I went to every single appointment my wife had while pregnant, even going so far as to take days off work or leave early. I was with her every step of the way. Sure, 30 years ago some dads did the same thing, but not in the numbers they are today. Dads were volunteer coaches back then, too, but today’s dad coach’s sports he never played and knows very little about because his kids want to play. Today’s dad goes to every sporting event, school play, musical, etc. that he can. Today’s dad stays home while mom works. Today’s dad cooks and cleans, shops for groceries, and drops the kids off at school. Today’s dad is Mr. Mom.

In other words, dad deserves an extra special day, too. We don’t want a tie every year for Father’s Day. Nor do we want slippers, a power tool, a ladder, a lawnmower, golf balls, etc. We want our day. We want a day to sit back, beer in hand, and relax, while at the same time enjoying our family. We want to be pampered. We want to be waited on hand and foot. Do we want golf? Sure, when we’re older and our kids can come along and actually treat us to a round. But, frankly, it’s not worth it to me right now because, well, have you ever driven by a golf course on Father’s Day? I’ll wait a week or two to go golfing, thank you. Moms get a day to themselves, why can’t we? Of course we love our families, but we don’t get any time to relax. My wife always says to me, “You get to go to work and have fun with the people you work with.” Sure, that may be the case, but I also happen to lift heavy things and walk 8-10 miles each day at my job. So I DO deserve a day to relax. I don’t particularly like going to work all day and coming home only to have to leave again to run errands, but I do it. I’m not a big fan of moving furniture around after a long day of moving things around at work, but, again, I do it. Okay, so I do more walking than lifting these days, but that doesn’t change things. I’m really not a big fan of going for walks, either, but I think you can imagine why. I still do all of these things, and I DO enjoy them because it involves spending time with the people who mean the most to me. I’m just saying I need a day to sit back and relax. No yard work, no garage cleaning, no worries, just me.

Father’s Day, in my opinion, is a little flawed. Where they went wrong was to schedule it for a Sunday in June. I think we should get a weekend in September or October. Why, you may ask? I can answer that question with eight simple letters: F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L. By that time of the year both the NCAA and NFL seasons are in full swing. This benefits both moms and dads. Retail stores could capitalize on this by having huge sales for women while the men are home spending the day watching football. I know, at least in my case, it’s a struggle to be able to sit down and watch a game on any given weekend. And I only really care about Saturday. I could watch college football all day long, no matter who is playing. For some reason I’m just not a big NFL fan. I have my team, but, other than that, I don’t watch on Sundays. But it seems like every time I get settled in or want to watch a really big game, Mama Bird starts handing out chores. I don’t know what it is about football season that she doesn’t like, but I’m only asking for 12 Saturdays and the occasional Sunday for the entire year, plus Father’s Day. Is that so much to ask? This is why it should all be rolled into one.

Anyway, back to the subject. It seems like every year Father’s Day gets pushed to the back burner. Today’s dad is under appreciated and unrecognized for what he does. I shouldn’t say unrecognized since we do have our day. It’s just that it seems to me that every year what we do for moms gets bigger and better, whereas dads keep getting the same boring gifts. I’ve been lucky; my two Father’s Day gifts have been pretty good. Year one I got a new grill, much needed since the handle on my old one was a 2x4 screwed on through the holes of the original handle. Year two was a Wii Fit, which doesn’t get used as much as we had hoped, but it’s still pretty cool and fun to use when we do. Year three was supposed to be a trip to the zoo for the Brew at the Zoo on Memorial Day weekend, but I’ve now been scheduled to work, so I’m curious as to what surprise Mama Bird and Little E will have in store for me. I love my family and how creative my wife is when it comes to these things, so I’m pretty excited to see what she comes up with. Father’s Day is a special day for us dads, and, believe me, we love our families VERY much. So make sure you take care of the dad in your family. Give him a day like mom gets; in other words, give him whatever he wants, just for a day. And, to all you dads out there, Happy Father’s Day!