Happy Father's Day!
OK, look, I'm a father.
We've gotten several letters about a reader participation we're doing for Father's Day. We've asked readers to send us their stories of Dad being, well, that goofy father that we all have and love. You know, how Dad has embarrassed you. And, to be fair, we asked Dad to tell us how you have embarrassed him.
But some readers think that we're disrespecting and insulting Pops.
Here's what writer Katie Reetz says about that:
We've gotten a great response from readers for our Father's Day feature. Some letters have come from teenagers, others from adult children left with only memories of their dad, not to mention more than a few fathers who've shared stories of the endless ways their kids have embarrassed them.
One dad threatened to drive a car through his daughter's bedroom after realizing she was alone in there with a boy, another spoiled his daughter's first kiss when he picked her up from a band trip in shorts and a cowboy hat. The stories are varied, but the letters all end the same way -- with a love and appreciation for fathers, and a good-spirited ability to laugh at the complexities of parenthood.
Whenever we do something light-hearted, some people take offense. It's difficult to be funny and not offend someone. In this case, we're pretty confident that people who send something to us have fathers who can laugh at themselves.
Comments (3)
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I'm all for laughing at yourself and others, and I actively try to embarrass both of my daughters, but think about it: you would never, never do this with mothers. Because mothers are saintly, pure, caregiving sorts. It's the sacred trappings of the cult of motherhood that irritate me.
Posted on June 9, 2006 11:55 PM
Why should we? Mothers are saintly, pure, caregiving sorts.:) But along those lines, we sorta did two years ago with a piece on whether moms really know best, with experts weighing in on Mom's folk wisdom. (The answer was mixed.)
Posted on June 10, 2006 6:00 AM
Sacred! You've got to be kidding. Both of my sons worked at a summer camp last year, and they got involved in a competition with another employee over whose mom was toughest. They even had group chants and T-shirts. That's how I found out. I washed a T-shirt with a drawing of me on it (complete with muscles and boxing gloves). Kids I had never met were wearing them. Cult of motherhood, indeed.
Posted on June 12, 2006 2:14 PM