Happy Father's Day tomorrow, all you Impregnating Persons

Well, unless you are as confused about the Impregnating/Fathering connection as, say, Hunter Biden

Actually, Happy Father's Day to all you men who play fatherly roles in the lives of children and younger adults. Even the difficult ones. Even if those roles are indirect.

Fatherliness can be a challenge today

I think that Powerline's Ammo Grrrll is pretty much on target here with her advice about RAISING KIDS AND CHICKENS. It starts out with some observations that mostly could have fit in the Gardening Thread, which you should maybe read. Heh. But then she gets into Thread before the Gardening Thread territory:

Grandma's chickens roamed freely throughout the yard pecking at everything, squawking and complaining incessantly, like members of The Squad, only smarter and less arrogant. They never really seemed very happy with their lives, in the coop or out.

But Grandma had a twin sister and HER chickens were Extremely Free Range. Auntie Iva's chickens were allowed IN THE HOUSE. They had to be shooed off the dining room table before we could eat. No wonder I have such a tremendous immune system!

So why, over the last 15 months and counting, has it been considered good for chickens to roam about, but to have children locked in their homes while teachers get paid for failing to teach, instead of the popular current practice of teaching to fail? Thank God the Teachers' Union is in charge. If students had school choice, how in the world would the black kids learn that they are too oppressed to take the "racist" ACT or even too stupid to locate a place to get an I.D. to vote? How would white kids grasp that they are singularly privileged and evil and responsible for slavery, including the 9 million slaves still in Africa today?

Good questions! On to fatherhood:

Did you ever notice that in ANY discussion of mothers, but particularly SINGLE mothers, you always hear two words, almost as a mantra: STRONG, INDEPENDENT women? So, "strength" and "independence" are prized qualities in women according to The People Who Decide Such Things. When was the last time you saw in print the phrase, "strong, independent men"? (I'll wait...) MEN are never described positively as "strong", which is seen as a threat, not an asset. And "independence" in men is not prized at all in Femi-Ninny World, lest the men grow a spine and disagree with the women who love bossing us around.

Yeah, I'm tired of that. "Strength" - of character, of adherence to values, of an ability to get through tough times, even just regular muscular, jar-opening strength - is equally good in both men and women. Many people HAVE had "strong, independent" mothers, especially if their husbands died or left them. God bless them all. But so have many of us had strong fathers, which was a blessing as well. And I have known several MEN who did all the hard work of raising children after the birthing persons, who all just happened to be women - what are the chances? -- decided they couldn't be bothered any more. (By the way, if a woman pretending to be a man can still technically be called a "birthing person," what do you call a man pretending to be a woman? An "impregnating person"? Rachel? Anybody?) Insanity!

There are several penetrating observations where these came from. And an appreciation. Lovely.

Larry Elder frequently speaks about the importance of fathers, particularly in the "Black Community". It's one thing to grow up with a single mom. It's another to grow up with a single mom in a neighborhood in which there are almost no involved fathers. And now, where BLM advocates for "mothers and parents", totally skipping over fathers as if they don't really matter.

Here's a video of a speech Elder gave on Why Fathers Matter.

More involved than you might expect. Some turbulence is revealed. His own father had a very rough childhood without a mother OR father after age 13 (but in a time when society still believed in fathers).

George Washington

George Washington, the Father of our Country, had no biological children, but was still a fatherly figure to many. He lost his own father when he was 11. So, how did he learn to be a man? Partly by reading, I think. The following rules were written by men, for men.

George Washington wrote out a copy of the 110 Rules of Civility in his school book when he was about 14-years old.

Vote for your favorite or comment on which Rule you think is still relevant today.

These maxims originated in the late sixteenth century in France and were popularly circulated during Washington's time. This exercise, now regarded as a formative influence in the development of his character, included guidelines for behavior in pleasant company, appropriate actions in formal situations, and general courtesies.

Something to think about today, perhaps. What would be today's equivalent set of Rules for Civility, and how would various adolescent boys respond to them over time?

Music

Daddy could swear, I declare

Guys on the way to becoming Dads

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Got plans for today or for Father's Day?

posted by K.T. at 11:08 AM

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