Why does everyone pick on dads? In our society, it is one of the few groups of people that it seems OK to make fun of and…that’s not OK. It might be easy to poke fun at the dad struggling to wrangle the kids at the mall – mostly because I struggle with the same thing – or joke around with the dad at the park that he is on “babysitting” duty. It seems harmless. It’s sexist, and that’s bad enough; it also damages our kids. We need to show our kids that we respect dads and give them the credit they deserve and the space to be awesome parents.
What dads do differently
Dads often use a few things differently than moms do and that’s OK. They may
- play differently
- use jokes and sarcasm a little differently
- give advice and rules a little differently
- use their tone of voice or body language differently
Why That’s OK
Kids can benefit from diversity in parenting styles and they also benefit seeing one parent treat the other with respect. Diversity can be an important thing to a kid when they are growing up.
How to Show Dads Some Respect
Here are a few tips:
- Don’t mock or joke around about the way your child’s father parents
- Don’t call it babysitting when they watch the kids
- If you don’t like the way they are doing something when it comes to the kids, have a private conversation about it away from little ears
- Try to see things from their point of view and try it their way from time to time
- Let them be an equal parent with everything from discipline to household chores
- Judge a person’s parenting based on actual actions and not gender
Watch this video and get some tips on respecting dads.
Let’s give a shout out to all those amazing dads in our lives. Tell us what you love about the way your husband, boyfriend, co-parent is a dad to your kids!
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