“Dad, where are we?”
I sat in a quiet pub, meeting with two longtime friends. As we talked, an approximately 9-year-old boy prodded his dad with this question. Blind, he used his cane to navigate into a corner booth, sitting down with his brother and parents.
His dad answered the question, of course. They were at a pub. But the question lingered in the room. And it stirred my imagination.
Where are we?
This is not just a question, but the question children ask of their fathers. Literally and otherwise, our kids look to us to help them navigate their world. In their questioning and in their tantrums, in the early mornings and late nights, our children need us to know where they are.
At dadcraft, we believe how we answer this question matters. We believe no dad is an island. We believe there are not enough venues for dads to share their practices with each other. And, we believe dads are the best resource to support other dads.
Through our bi-weekly email newsletter and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we’ve engaged in the issues dads care about most. As we reflect back on a great 2017 at dadcraft.com, here are the five most-visited articles of last year. We’re looking forward to bringing you great original content again in this new year.
1 – Fathering out of Fatherlessness
In a guest post, philosopher James K.A. Smith shared his honest reflections about Father’s Day.
“Father’s Day is easy for me: I have none. They all left. So I don’t have to find an awkward card amidst the cloying selection on offer. I don’t have to make the clichéd choice between necktie or power tool. I don’t have to endure the awkwardness of a largely wordless afternoon in the presence of my progenitor, or remember to call and then try to wrangle a conversation out of the receiver. (“I don’t have to,” of course, is its own sort of spin, papering over the “I don’t get to” buried beneath it.)”
2 – A Few Thoughts on Pixar’s Up
“Just a few minutes into Up and I’m enthralled by the story of an elderly couple who modeled a tender example of a married life well-lived. And that’s just the preamble to the ensuing adventure….Hundreds of miles from home due to a resisted eviction notice, a snipe hunt, and a flying house, Carl Fredricksen (the widower) and Russell (the Wilderness Explorer) proceed to discover one of the world’s rarest birds and then stumble across Charles Muntz, a renowned explorer with a very mean streak. Through it all, the camaraderie built between Fredricksen and Russell sustains a wild and captivating tale of friendship and sacrifice.”
“Becoming a dad has been a huge transition, but one I’ve welcomed for several years. I’ve had a long time planning this out with my wife and that’s been immensely helpful. At the end of the day, I’m a husband and father first. If you don’t have those priorities right, what are those other things for? If you have nobody to enjoy the ride with and nobody to pass it on to, why are you doing it?”
“Adoption is a good thing, but it involves a lot of sacrifice. There’s the home study, the classes and preparation … the stuff you can plan for. Beyond that, there’s also heartbreak, even in the adoption of infants. You can intellectually know everything about adoption and the challenges that adopted kids face, but then it hits with your own kids … it’s tough. There’s a separate, un-fulfillable, nothing-we-can-do sort of hurt that adopted kids face. The kid wrestles with it; the parent wrestles with it.”
5 – The 8 Best YouTube Videos for 4-Year-Olds
“Our bus was nowhere to be found. After a two hour drive to the airport, lines galore, a delayed departure, the flight itself, and baggage claim waiting, this was, finally, the last straw. My 4-year-old was done. And when he’s done, things get crazy. I’d used up all my parenting tricks (twice). Traveling is hard, and we both just needed something easy. This is one of those moments where a few finely curated YouTube movies can save the day. Here is the list my 4-year-old helped me put together. The videos are focused on others having a hard day too.”
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Postscript: If you want more, check out our top posts of 2016 as well.
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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash