Ah Father’s Day. The day when every cynical mom (sometimes myself included) thinks for just a fleeting moment, “Isn’t that every day?” But here’s the thing. While I am all about supporting women, I have incredibly supportive men in my life. Not everyone does, I know, and I consider myself very lucky for the wonderful husband, dad, father-in-law, brothers-in-law, and boss (again, not really sure if that particular one reads this, but I still feel he should be included in the list) I have in my life. I have some excellent guy friends and extended family members who are also loving husbands and fathers. I also know many husbands of good female friends of mine who are incredibly supportive, all-around good dudes. This blog is not meant to be anti-men. It is just meant to be incredibly, over-the-top pro-women. 

Now back to that fleeting cynical thought. It’s not fair. Dads do deserve recognition. The overplayed TV trope of the incompetent husband married to the super-competent, long-suffering stay-at-home-mom is so silly, it’s laughable. Granted, I tend to surround myself with strong women who would probably not get involved with men who have super traditional expectations of a marriage or relationship, but reading parent blogs and articles shows a general trend toward equality in parenting.

Mother’s Day became an official celebration in the US in 1908, and Father’s Day came around a couple of years later because a woman in Spokane heard a speech about Mother’s Day and thought celebrating fathers would be a good idea. And it is! Moms get a lot of credit around Mother’s Day about how great we are and about how our households would crumble to the earth without our stable hands (or something along those lines), but then everyone has a month to think about how necessary the dads are too. For example, in our house, we wouldn’t have enough money to live in our house or buy … anything. I’m not giving you a detailed account of our finances here, but his job is important to our family. But he has been working from home for years, long before corona quarantine, so he’s been home, albeit working, nearly every day of his son’s lives. I don’t need to explain how meaningful that is, both to these boys and to me. 

So here’s the deal: we need each other, moms and dads. Whether both parents live in the same house or not, whether the father figure is really a grandfather or close family friend or mentor, kids thrive when they have people they can count on. Moms are amazing, but they can’t do it alone. Community is so necessary, and positive male role models make a huge difference in the relationships kids form as they grow and become adults. 

Happy Father’s Day, incredible dads out there. Thanks for supporting the women in your lives, in addition to the children you’re helping to raise. Thanks for striving to be at your best when you think no one notices. We see you. We love you. We appreciate you.