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Author: NiteMayr

Before:

Kevin was born on the mossy hills of Scotland and lived for a while in West Lothian before the mores of pre-Thatcher and REALLY pre-Oasis Great Britain sent his family across the ocean to North America. They moved here and there and Kevin did the same when he was old enough. Now he lives in London with his family and a Dog.

Kevin Wardrop is an amateur writer, amateur photographer and professional pain in the ass. He has worked in the PC support business for most of his adult life and has been accustomed to simply answering technical questions as a matter of fiat, it was his career choice after all. Now he herds cats and puppies for a living as well as babysitting the web enterprises at the heart of western industry.

Does Modern Fatherhood just mean Motherhood?

Published by NiteMayr on May 18, 2009

Ever since I signed up for daddyhood, I can’t stomach these sorts of stories. I can’t read things like that without imagining my own son or daughter as the victim. I’m going to have to go hug something.

— Lester

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”

-Oscar Wilde

It seems that almost every one of my male friends who become Dads also become Mothers.  They cease to hold onto the essential Maleness of their lives and start being fretful hens who “get all concerned” when something happens to a kid somewhere (anywhere) in the world.  This may go a long way to explaining the lack of violent kid death in movies and video games.  I’m probably a hypocrite on this matter myself, as the Parent who brushes hair and checks clothing before my own goes out the door (but I believe strongly that I am motivated by necessity and not nascent ovaries).

When did it become “okay” for Dad’s to stop being “Fatherly” and start wearing the proverbial June Cleavers around the house?  These aren’t even Single Dads or Stay-at-home Dads; I’m talking about Dad’s who are out of the house for eight hours a day, drink beer, watch Nascar and Fret Fearfully when little Portia skins her ‘wittle‘ knees while playing on television in another state 20 years ago.   The kind of Dad who knows how to unstop a drain without Draino and knows what a Ubend is for.  Why is he crying on the Internet about some tragic horror in a world of Tragic Horror?

For that matter; who CRIES ON THE INTERNET at all? ( Results 1 – 10 of about 66,200 for “crying right now“. (0.27 seconds)

It’s not like I expect Fathers to be the Violent Misanthropes we’ve been trained by Television and Movies to think they were or even Wise Patricians like Heathcliff Huxtable or Atticus Finch; just something more masculine than “The Fresh Prince” (circa 1991).  No crying Jags in public and no fretting like hens over other people’s kids.  It’s okay to worry in private, sensible people don’t need you to shred your shirt every time someone’s kid gets a boo-boo, even a fatal one.