A tribute to all dads

Inspiration for this artwork: underneath the "stern" exterior, there may be a softer side which dads want to indulge in more in this journey. This exemplifies how a dad can embrace his playfulness and fun-loving nature in his fatherhood journey, and it also demonstrates how he can engage in diverse and fulfilling ways with family.

#newperspectives #newage #fathering #fatherhood #dadsforlife

Happy father’s day!

The role of father has been evolving, across the generations.

Traditionally, fathers are seen as breadwinner, authority figure and disciplinarians within the household. Increasingly, they tend to share in more hands-on day-to-day parenting roles (e.g., bed-time story telling; preparing school lunch boxes) and providing emotional support on top of their own work commitments and traditional roles.

Through the fathers’ interactions with family members, they are essentially demonstrating their values related to love, relationships and interpersonal communications. They can potentially be important role models for both daughters and sons in terms of how to conduct themselves in romantic relationships, familial settings as well as influence their attachment and interactional patterns within these relationships.

They can be subjected to gender stereotypes and societal expectations as to how males are expected to behave in “masculine” ways –which involves the portrayal of tough-ness and suppression of vulnerabilities or emotions. Over the years, there is increased acceptance of and even embracing of a more authentic sense of self characterised by vulnerability and empathy.

While these above narratives can impose subtle and sometimes, overt expectations on the men/fathers and cause stress, they can also be perceived as an opportunity for them to make a difference in their children’s lives.

These shifts can be seen as a chance for fathers to embrace fatherhood with more fluidity and flexibility and not feel unnecessarily trapped in having to follow in their (fore) father’s footsteps and prescribed traditions from yester-years.

Lastly, I hope that all you dads out there can explore and set aside time for your passion projects or hobbies as being fulfilled is a form of self-care and it influences the way we care and show up for our loved ones and others we interact with.

Hope you eventually find your own rhythm and fun in this fathering journey. Since parenthood did not come to you with a manual, you get to co-create the guidelines appropriate for your family, along with your partner-in-love!  Here's to embracing all sides of you that make you unique - the serious, the fun and playfulness and the sensitive and emotional sides. As a gentle reminder: you are as important to a child and his/her development as the mums!

Happy father’s day!

Rooting for all of you,

Jeanice