Fatherhood on Friday: To Honor the Dead, Embrace the Living
The relationship between men, the strength of friendship, is something our society too often overlooks. To its detriment.
Monday is Memorial Day, when Americans honor those who lost their lives while serving in the armed forces. Around 85% of active-duty personnel are men, and just under half have children. When men are killed in action, we often think: What if one more dad came home, bringing smiles and tears and a viral video, rather than leaving a child without a father?
But this weekend, in many respects, is also about those who made it back, and who will spend this weekend remembering their fallen friends. The bonds of war are often referred to as a brotherhood, and Hollywood knows it. For many men, nurturing that shared vulnerability — assuming they can even find it again — is nearly impossible.
The relationship between men, the strength of friendship, is something that is too often overlooked in our society — not the chicken wings and football version, but the deep, emotional kind. Some of us find it online, but even that lacks the things we take for granted, like tone and touch. Others just endure life without it.
We hope you’re able to spend this Memorial Day pursuing your own bonds of brotherhood, taking the men in your life and the relationships you share together up a notch. Turn it to 11.
Recently, America has turned Memorial Day into just another excuse for retail therapy, which seems rather disrespectful to a holiday built on sacrifice and honor. But spending it with those you care about, over grills and campfires, shared laughs and forgotten stories, hugs where handshakes used to be? That sounds like the perfect way to improve our emotional health, and to honor the freedom our veterans died for.
IN THE NEWS
The effects of nature on a young mind are priceless. Summer is near; how often will your kids be outside?
As the school year ends, take time to talk to your kids about their experience(s) and reflect upon it. Then hit the pool.
Teen summer employment has decreased greatly in recent years. Do your teens have summer jobs lined up?
Stigmas and myths about mental health can harm adults and children. Here are some common myths about children, teens, and mental health, and why they need to be debunked.
There are still many reasons why dads take far less paid leave than they can, and we still stand to achieve a lot if we amend them.
Stay-at-home dads in Ireland are on the rise, and yet the role is still taboo, with little or nothing in place to support them.
A recent U.K. study shows “24% of 10- to 16-year-olds regret, or have a friend who regrets, posting live videos on apps” and social media.
There are some very scary stats in this article about teen drivers, but also practical advice to better prepare them for the driving experience.
Utah’s new free-range parenting law, which gives children more freedom to be independent, feels very old-school. Is old school the best school?
PORCHLIGHT POSTS
- “Fathers need that opportunity where we don’t have to worry about the future and just live in the moment. I’m not selling hair coloring. I’m selling memories.” — Shannon Carpenter, In the Hair Chalk Game, the Carnival’s King is a Bald Dad
- “As a dad, it is my job to make sure I provide my daughters with as much information as I can that will help them to make informed decisions about their own lives.” — Chris Farley Ratcliffe, Women Are Not Property
- “And, this is salt in a father’s wound: watching his children stumble in daddy’s footsteps.” — D. Doug Mains, When You Can No Longer Be Your Kid’s Hero, Be A Dad
- “Honey, you’re in a small story. Get a big story!” — Darrell Humphrey, Why Am I Getting so Angry and What to do About It?
- “There’s this thing about admitting to the emotional toll that comes from stress, anxiety and depression: Men simply don’t do it.” — Pete Cataldo, When Anxiety and Depression Take Over: The Internal Battle to Find Myself
ONE LAST THING
Over the years we’ve all heard many comparisons, metaphors, and similes linking life with the game of golf, but perhaps none have captured it quite as accurately as Sam and his son Rory. Fore!
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Top photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash
Originally published at www.dad2summit.com on May 25, 2018.
