ENGAGED FATHERHOOD

Engaged Fatherhood, The 'New Normal'

To the dads who take care of the morning and/or evening routine, 

To the dads who get involved in parents committees, 

To the dads who stay home while the moms go to work, 

To the dads who work hard to be more involved in their children's lives, 

To the bosses and co-workers who let the dads go home early to pick-up the kids without judging, 

To the parents who support their children in their new dad role, 

To the moms who let the dads get fully involved, 

Thank you for helping make 'Engaged Fatherhood' the 'new normal'.

I was happy to learn this week about The Fatherhood Project , a non-profit organization that helps and empowers fathers to become fully involved in their children's lives. I especially connected with their idea that it takes a village to 'raise' an engaged father. It's not just about the father trying to be a good father. Wives, partners, co-workers, parents and friends have to support the mission so that fathers can successfully be engaged. 

Today, Modern Dads are stepping away from the traditional roles of being just the breadwinner and have this 'unprecedented opportunity, and enormous challenge, to redefine a more involved and expanded version of fatherhood for generations to come.' And Modern Moms can have a tremendous influence on how this next chapter of fatherhood plays out. Forget about SuperMoms, and aim more for SuperTeams.

This made me think about the episode on how my husband started getting involved in the parents committees. Initially, I was the parent who aspired to get involved in everything school/daycare related. I saw it as a way to control, ahem I mean, contribute to my child's development, but in a way it would also make up for the time I was away at work. But then one year, our kids were in two different daycares in different parts of the city and I was spending a lot of time on the road for work. It just wasn't smart to be everything and everywhere to everyone, so we took a Divide and Conquer approach. Each parent would take on one committee. In the end, it worked out really well and everyone benefited from our decision. Alex enjoyed giving his input to the ongoing initiatives, and I liked not rushing after work to write meeting minutes and just staying home with the boys.  Just like having more women on corporate board meetings, having more dads on school committees is definitely a win-win for everyone. Diversity is key right? I also find that just the simple gesture of asking Dads if they want to get involved is already a big step forward.

Hope this inspires Modern Moms to let go and make some room, and for Modern Dads to fully lean in.

Happy Father's Day!

xo

Kim-Anh


Photo Credits: Kim-Anh Tran