Dads

After my husband read my last post, I was greeted with a somewhat accusing ” Mamma’s boy, huh?” comment, looking pointedly at our son. Now, its put me in the unfair position (and he’s a big “life is unfair darling” advocate), as I seem to get mini-looks of “aha – mama’s boy!”, when our son comes up to me for an extra long cuddle or worse- when I tell our 4-year-old to share her toys with little brother. Oh dear.

Anyway, I’ve decided to do a little more on Fathers, which will include (surprise, honey!)…..Daddy’s Girl.

But first off, with thanks to Wikipedia:

The Definition of Father

A father is traditionally the male parent of a child. Like mothers, fathers may be categorised according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child.

Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of paternity has been intrinsically problematic and so social rules often determined who would be regarded as a father e.g. the husband of the mother.

This method of the determination of fatherhood has persisted since Roman times in the famous sentence: Mater semper certa; pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant (Mother is always certain; the father is whom the marriage shows).

The historical approach has been destabilised with the recent emergence of accurate scientific testing, particularly DNA testing. As a result, the law on fatherhood is undergoing rapid changes. In the United States, the Uniform Parentage Act essentially defines a father as a man who conceives a child through sexual intercourse.

Originally posted on September 25, 2006 @ 8:50 pm

From the moment our daughter was born, I knew she was a daddy’s girl. As my husband says, I was pretty much “out for the count” having just undergone 8 hours of labour and THEN a c-section.

So, one can understand why the first sight of my daughter is hazy to me. Heavy drugs, sheer exhaustion and the strange feeling of actually becoming a “Mother” all melded into the first moment I saw her – and all I remember is seeing this tiny thing in a pink blanket put next to me for a second, my asking if she was healthy, being told that she was perfect, and waking up 5 hours later in the hospital room.

My husband on the other hand, has a far clearer account of his experience. One that brings tears to his eyes every time he tells the tale. I’ll leave that for him to tell himself, but it involved an experience which could only be described as pure love and joy as he watched her being born.

Throughout her infancy, terrible twos and now preschooler days, my husband has never been angry or lost his temper with our daughter (unlike bad-tempered mean old Mom). Yes, he disciplines when needed, but even then I can tell that he’s still secretly amused.

They do a lot of “daddy time” things together (roller coaster rides for instance which Mom wont do), and also have a special language / game that just the two of them can understand. Sometimes in the car they’ll be going on and on with quite animated discussions – fascinating, really.

And more evidence of the daddy’s girl phenomena – when the daughter of a good friend of mine was born, her smitten husband promptly had the baby’s foot tattooed on his shoulder. Since then, they’ve had a little boy, but I yet to ask if his feet were tattooed on the opposite shoulder. What do you think?

Originally posted on September 5, 2006 @ 5:56 pm