Let's Hear it for the Dads

As I browsed Our Green House’s “manlier” organic products for Father’s Day gift ideas this year I was struck by how different today’s dad is from the dads of yesterday.  Last year for Father’s Day my husband had been eyeing a reclaimed wood cutting board because - get this - he cooks!  Frequently!  He isn’t alone either, more and more fathers are participating in household jobs that would regularly have fallen to their wives.  Thank goodness, too!  

As moms we have really benefited from this shift in what we consider a woman’s job versus a man’s job.  I certainly appreciate not being the only one washing dishes and tidying up around the house.  Having two parents on deck benefits today’s children too.  

Dads are more involved in the physical and emotional rearing of children than ever before.  Every time she sees my husband change a diaper or wear our baby my grandmother will regale me with the story of my father’s birth which begins with “your grandfather dropped me off at the hospital and went to work…”  Whoa!  

In a world where fathers attend birthing class, cut cords and have skin to skin time with their infants the fact that fifty years ago fathers didn’t even attend births is quite the shock.  

So this Father's’ Day, Our Green House would like to give a shout out to our modern day Dads, who step up to the plate from day one.  To the dads who stand by our sides for 9 months and hold our hands during labor.  Thanks to the dads who learn how to change a cloth diaper or snuggly swaddle the baby.  Thanks to the dads who enjoy their morning coffee not while reading the paper but by chatting with a babbling toddler.  Thanks to the dads who shop for groceries with a baby strapped to their chests.  

Thanks to the dads who wait for the school bus in the morning and attend PTA meetings in the evening.  Thank you to the dads who make the most out of the weekends - riding bikes, building snowmen, playing board games.  For every Dad that gives himself fully to the most important job he will ever have - a huge thank you and very Happy Father’s Day from Our Green House!!