There is a fundamental unfairness to the way men are treated with their children in public compared to women. A man carrying a screaming infant while dragging a toddler who’s having a fit because the carousel is only open on weekends, well he’s “such a good dad.” I swear four women came up and told me that yesterday under those exact circumstances. If I had been my wife I’m sure they would have been shaking their heads with a tsk tsk. Mothers, I’ve learned from floor polish commercials, have to give 100 percent. Fatherhood is not unlike the Special Olympics. Sometimes you get a medal just for showing up.
— Dutch from www.sweet-juniper.com (via seagull) (via rore) - my kid’s not even here yet & i’m already getting the “are you going to change diapers?” treatment. the threshold for fatherhood is so low (and motherhood so high!), it’s saddening to consider how it got there. i look forward to taking my son to the park, changing his diapers, playing with him when i get home from work, and everything else that makes a father a dad and i can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t want the joy received from such interaction.
