Dads

I met a really cool Dad today. Not my Dad. In fact not even the Dad of anyone I know. He was just a Dad, who was really enjoying fathering, and doing a fab job as well. He did not have a partner/ co habitee/ wife/ mother to compliment his fatheriness. He was just alone, with his wee son, and they were both clean and well and warm and happy.

The struggle for nice Dads, is that they are rarely perceived to be nice dads. Perception is that Mums are always nice. Dads struggle to be seen as equal to mums. Mums have a divine biological right, as producer, feeder, owner of 'maternal instinct', to parent and be damn good at it. Dads must be weird, because they are men, and they should be out drinking stout and watching football, not pottering about the house and making up bottles of milk.

I think of myself as a pretty open minded, unprejudiced, and liberal person. I am pretty willing to give anyone a chance at doing anything. So, believing myself to be like this, I was horrified to find myself stunned at encountering this great Dad. These old values of mine, that appear to be held against my will, were simply not at ease with this unconventional successful little set up. Try as I might to be the all accepting lefty that I aspire to be, I was surprised at this unsuspecting young man's brilliant ability to manage this child and keep a good home.

Take heed good self, it is not enough to mouth off about challenging discrimination. I am pleased to announce that I held a discriminatory perspective today. I acknowledge this, and hope that I have proved to myself that Dads can be maternal and loving. I hope those god damn sneaky values just bloody well take heed. . . . and get back to whatever fathom of my subconscious they came from.