See, originally I was going to give you guys a smoothie recipe. Are you kidding me, it's summer, and we are all hot. But those pictures were, for some reason, damaged beyond repair and therefore unmentionable.
Instead, we have a wonderful dinner bowl for you.

But this is beside the point. Today's post is all about the man in my life that I call Dad.


Father's Day needs to stop being correlated with masculinity. In fact, the male gender in general needs to stop being correlated to masculinity. Because in order to be a dad that is in touch as a dad... it requires femininity. And when I use the words masculine and feminine as a feminist, I detach them from their gender associations. That's not a thing.
What I mean by feminine traits is the softer traits. Gentleness and patience and empathy. A dad with sons and daughters alike will need to be able to reach deeper into souls than they may think is "cool." Because it is so easy to be fooled by society into thinking that generally, dads should be easy-going, clueless, and the one that let's everyone get away with everything.
But no. Sometimes, in order to be the dad that your children need... You need to be the embarrassing dad.


That may mean the classic dad jokes that enable you to have a character inside of your child's mind. Corny little anecdotes that build up a safe and approachable person as the man your children think of you.

That may mean posting the sappy "happy birthday" message on your middle-aged Facebook explaining how you fell in love with that small cry of a newborn... and how you're still in love.

That may mean being the one to post next to your daughter's prom date with a gun just to show the world that you protect precious cargo.

That may mean being the only one beside your son on the hiking trip, just to let him talk to you without any other prying ear.

That may mean sometimes even.. Crying with your children. Letting them see the vulnerable side of you so that they can understand that nobody is invincible.

Because Dads need to look deep into their children. They need to get on their level, to really understand what they mean, to be able to give them the kind of support they need.

Being a Dad is a hard job, because there are so many layers to what they do. Happy Father's Day.


Go you, Dads. Yay for letting go of the mask of masculinity, yay for crossing all the boundaries to connect with your kids.