Celebrating Father’s Day with 3 Key Learnings
In the past few years we witness the changing landscape of fatherhood as the role of fathers have evolved alongside the way of working. Here are three main takeaways from this year’s Father’s Day.
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The pandemic has accelerated, in most parts, how people view the world of work. This is also true of its impact on the modern-day fathers. It is true, in most parts, that most fathers in nuclear households only got to spend weekends with their children. As the pandemic paved the way to hybrid work, some of us got the opportunity to work in the same environments where we are raising our children. Our worlds collided as schoolwork was done with us observing the children, classrooms were held in the next room, and you got to notice how your children behave around their peers and their teachers. There was an increase in how we interacted with our children.
We cannot however downplay the other side of the pandemic, whilst it brought most families together, the anxieties and uncertainties came with certain harsh reality check-ins. We came to the call and redefined what a father’s responsibility is beyond the weekend fun trips. We started listening to our children, understanding their world bit by bit. For most, this would seem trivial, but for decades, it had become a norm for fathers to have limited interactions with their children, and even then, they did the best they could with what the environment allowed them to achieve. So what makes this year’s Father’s Day special, for me, I view it as a shift in our mindset. It is worth celebrating that we have been able to adapt to the change in our households and balance it with our professional lives.
It had become a norm for fathers to have limited interactions with their children, and even then, they did the best they could with what the environment allowed them to achieve.
What to learn from celebrating Father’s Day this year
Some of the key learnings to take into account when celebrating fathers:
- Adapting to emotional cues
A lot of fathers were raised with the idea that any show of emotion is a sign of weakness. This made it harder for fathers to learn emotional cues and how to resolve issues related to this. However, the blurred lines between work and home have enabled some of us to be a bit more conscious of our role in the household. This phenomenon is allowing fathers to unlearn previous traits while being present in the moment. Our ability to learn these emotional cues shows in part our ability to grow as fathers. I have learned that being a father is a continuous process and is founded strongly on the value we place on our relationships with our families. - Adapting to environmental changes
As we become more and more familiar with the changing roles and expectations in our work as well as families, we also need to note the external factors that add to the complexities that fathers are now experiencing. External factors such as economic instabilities and social movements have a direct impact on how we interact with our families. We navigate these changes so we can become better. Sometimes it is hard as it makes it difficult to prioritize our order of responsibilities, but for most fathers, we are learning to put our families first amidst all of these. - Unlearning traditional fatherly responsibilities
One of the most difficult things to break away from is the traditional responsibilities of a father. This process of unlearning and relearning is also key to having a sustainable and loving household. The reason is, traditionally, most fathers would not be home almost all day and for some weeks or months and only be with their families for a very short time. With the change in times and less stringent gender roles in the household, the role of the traditional father is being replaced by the loving father.
Celebrating Father’s Day this year comes with some key lessons and the need to adapt to the new realities. As hybrid work enables fathers around the world to be more involved in co-parenting, we also see a shift in the role of fathers—and maybe, it is time for it to change in society. So, enjoy this Father’s Day and celebrate it with care and kindness!
Check out our other holidays and celebrations blogs and be inspired!
