What do you give a Stay-At-Home Dad for Father’s Day?

I mean, it’s a dilemma, isn’t it.

Fathers who work outside the home don’t see their kids enough. So naturally, on Father’s Day, they get to spend all day surrounded by their little people - pancakes for breakfast, etc. Or at least that’s what’s expected.

In our case, my husband spends all his time with the kids. So for Father’s Day, he got to go out to a Twins game with his brother Friday night.

I guess it was more like Father’s Weekend. The next day (actually Father’s Eve), we had dinner with his mom, sister, brother and their families. At a steak house. Over suitably masculine steaks, we reminisced about fathers present and absent.

My father-in-law, who died five years ago, still looms large in the family’s consciousness. My own father, who is alive and well, lives halfway across the world in Malaysia. We see him once a year.

The kids at the table - aged 3 to 8 - were each invited to say something about their dads. “I love you, Daddy!” beamed our five-year-old. Our three-year-old was more brief, more serious. “Thank you,” she said solemnly. Yes, thank you. 

We got home and called my father. It was our Saturday night, dark outside. But for him, it was already Sunday morning.

“Hi Kong-kong!” the girls shouted, calling him by the Chinese name for grandfather.

Now my father is a little deaf. And our speaker phone is not very clear. The girls yelled “Happy Father’s Day!” three times before he got it. He giggled happily.

“Ei? You know who Kong-kong is?” he asked in mock surprise. It’s the girls’ turn to giggle.

By the time Father’s Day actually rolled around on Sunday, we were exhausted.

Here’s Maya’s Father’s Day card - Daddy (left), Maya (right). 

What did you do for Father’s Day?

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.