Tag Archives: fathers

Holiday Gift Guide: 10 Gifts For The Smartypants Dad

Jessica WakemanDecember 13, 2011 //
Steve Jobs book
Monty Python 16-Ton Megaset DVDs
Nespresso
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Holiday Gift Guide
Everything you'll ever need for your holiday shopping. Read More »

Shopping for dads is weird. You can go the tie route, or the dress shirt route, or the “Billy The Singing Bass” route. (Please don’t go that route.) Can you blame your dad for saying every year, “No, no, don’t get me anything! I don’t need anymore crap”? So I stopped buying my dad “crap.” Usually I end up buying him a book because he is a big reader. However, that is getting predictable! So this year I’ve searched high and low for the perfect gifts for a smartypants dad: a guy who can take apart and reassmble any appliance in the kitchen, a history buff, and someone who listens to NPR (even though he thinks they’re a bunch of dirty hippies). My dad would love every single one of these holiday gifts — I hope yours would, too! Keep reading »

10 Super Inappropriate Father’s Day Gifts You Should Totally Avoid

Amelia McDonell-ParryJune 17, 2011 //

A few weeks ago, we received the worst press release ever. Fleshlight, the purveyor of fine synthetic vagina-like products for men, sent us a PR pitch about getting dad “the best gift a father could ask for.” We think they were kidding. But we still needed to scrub our brains with bleach, then spray them with Lysol and Swiffer their tiny crevices.

Gather ’round, children, and let’s recap which gifts are totally inappropriate (or just plain weird) to give dad this Father’s Day. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: How My Parents Made Me A Feminist

Jessica WakemanJune 17, 2011 //

A few weeks ago, on a first date, a guy told me about how watching his mother — a strong, intelligent woman who held the family together — made him into a feminist. Then he asked me what it was that made me start caring about women’s equality. I’m sure he expected that I was going to tell him a traditional “how I became a feminist” story: Dad hauled me to my first pro-choice march kicking and screaming, or my parents were radical separatist lesbians, or Mom was a famous liberal journalist and progressive ideals were in their blood.

Not. At. All.

My blood is the thick, viscous fluid of dirty martinis. My parents contributed to me becoming a feminist, sure. But it was only because as I was a young sprout blossoming into a beautiful flower, they were … kind of sexist. Keep reading »

10 Unapproved Conversation Topics For Father’s Day

Amelia McDonell-ParryJune 16, 2011 //

This Sunday, fathers and daughters everywhere will be spending quality time together talking about important life issues, reminiscing about stories from childhood, and waxing poetic about the future. While we highly encourage dad/daughter bonding, we’ve compiled this handy list of awkward conversations you may want to avoid if you plan on having a pleasant holiday with dad. After the jump, some unapproved conversation topics this Father’s Day. Keep reading »

Guy Talk: Dads, Hug Your Daughters

Hugo SchwyzerJune 15, 2011 //

“I was always daddy’s little girl. We did everything together. He was my hero. My father was always there with a hug for me; when I was little, he let me climb all over him like he was a jungle gym.
And then my body changed. I developed early; I had boobs by 11. And all of a sudden, my Dad stopped hugging me or touching me. He went overnight from being my best friend to being remote and critical.”

I read that in a student’s journal earlier this semester (quoted with permission). I’ve read and heard similar things countless times over the course of nearly 20 years teaching gender studies and doing youth ministry. Ask any family therapist who works with teen girls, and they’ll report the same thing I’ve heard: story after story of fathers withdrawing physical affection as soon as their daughters hit puberty. Keep reading »

An Open Letter To Girls Who Say “Daddy”

College CandyJune 12, 2011 //

Note: Let me first start by saying this excludes anyone 8 and younger and for now we are not going to even start with the girls who call their boyfriends “Daddy.” Right now, I’m looking at the 16+ crowd who still, for some really weird reason, need to call their fathers “Daaaadddddddy.” Ladies, this is for you.

Dear women and young women who still say “Daddy,”

Maybe it’s because I don’t understand you, that I hate hearing your shrill voice yell for your “Daddy” as you stomp your foot. Maybe it’s because I’ve had old men ask me if I need a new Daddy, so the fact that you refer to your father as “Daddy” complete creeps me out. But, it’s probably because while you are doing so, you are usually throwing a tantrum, and you are also well into your 20′s. That’s why I usually look at you with disgust then opt to walk the other way, hoping not to run into you again. Read more… Keep reading »

Texas Chick-Fil-A Hosting Daddy-Daughter “Date Night”

Jessica WakemanJune 9, 2011 //

Saturday June 18 will be a creepy evening in the Dallas/Fort Worth area: it’s Daddy-Daughter Date Night at Chick-Fil-A. Dads and daughters can RSVP for tables at participating restaurants on DaddyDaughterDate.com, a site so festooned with red hearts, filigree and curlicue script that it wouldn’t look out of place on Valentine’s Day. Even though June 18 is the day before Father’s Day.

Anyone else got a case of the icks yet? Keep reading »

Frisky Q&A: Dr. Peggy Drexler, Author Of “Our Fathers, Ourselves” About Women And Their Dads

Jessica WakemanMay 16, 2011 //

Confession: I’m a bit of a daddy’s girl. My dad has always made me feel protected and loved, even if he hasn’t always verbalized it the way my mom does. In the back of my mind, I’m always comparing how well the men I date treat me with how well my father treats me.

But Dad also does some confusing stuff, too. When I got dumped over the phone a few months ago, I was at my parents’ house, and when I started crying, my dad yelled at me and told me to stop making such a big deal out of things. I was, like, “Ummm, what? I just got dumped.” Why was the sweet guy who mailed me Snoopy cartoons yelling at me to stop crying when I just got my heart broken?

Then I read Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family, by Dr. Peggy Drexler. Based on her interviews with 70 women, ages 20 through 40, she explores the relationships of fathers and their adult daughters: why grown women seek their fathers’ approval; why some of us are still a “daddy’s girl” even in adulthood; and whether we date/marry men “just like our fathers,” as the rumor goes. I also learned that my father’s reaction to my post-breakup behavior — hysterical crying, snot everywhere — was not at all uncommon. Fathers understandably feel powerless when their child is in pain (the same goes for mothers, too) and sometimes their knee-jerk reaction is to make the child stop showing how hurt they are. My dad was just being … a dad.

Dr. Drexler — who (unrelated but interesting) is married to the CEO of J.Crew, Mickey Drexler! — very kindly responded to several questions of mine about Our Fathers, Ourselves for The Frisky. Learn more about your relationship with your father after the jump! Keep reading »

Girl Talk: I’m Dating My Dad

Sarah ShowfetyNovember 30, 2010 //

For most of my 15-year dating career, I went for Fledglings, Makeshift Men, pre-release beta tests of the fully formed adult male. Like Rusty, the dread-locked guitarist with groupies to spare whom I followed to various smoky, sticky-floored venues in college, hoping he’d recognize me from anthropology class. Guys whose giant charisma, outsider cool or longer-than-purely-business hair stoked my sense of adventure and ate my own — often annoying — level of maturity for breakfast.

I was drawn to men who were nothing like the soft-spoken, principled and straight-laced person who had been the dominant male presence in my life so far: my retired CPA father. Keep reading »

Cute Or Offensive? Tool Belt Diaper Bag For New Dads

Jessica WakemanAugust 19, 2010 //

So what do we think of this Daddy’s Little Project Diaper Bag? It is designed to look like a tool belt, with a ton of pockets, and comes with blueprints on how to change a diaper.

Now, a diaper bag is just a bag you put diapers in, so clearly this is all about marketing. Some people — like Amelia, whose guy friend owns one — think the toolkit diaper bag is totally cute. [Cute enough that, made for "men" or not, I would want one for myself. -- Editor] Others — like me — see how it’s a cute product, but also think it’s as annoying/offensive as the pink-ification of products to signify they’re “for women.” I mean, diaper-changing blueprints? Men aren’t stupid. Keep reading »

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