Dads have it pretty rough these days. I mean, look at how different things are for them now as opposed to, say, a hundred years ago....
A hundred years ago, a man proposed and got married in someone's living room or the tiny church in town with a few family members and his closest friends. Now, when a man proposes, he gets hit with a full-fledged wedding that would rival any three-ring circus, complete with a wedding coordinator, a videographer, a caterer, an entertainer, and 500 guests -- most of whom he's never met.
A hundred years ago, when his wife delivered the babies, the expectant father paced back and forth on the front porch, waiting for the doctor to bring him the happy news of the blessed event. These days he not only gets to watch every gruesome detail, he gets to videotape it so it can be viewed over and over again, and he can even cut the cord if he wants to. (The effects of which have actually helped with that six-week waiting period after the baby is born before resuming "intimate relations.")
A hundred years ago, men "worked" and their wives took care of the kids and the cooking and the cleaning.... A woman would never dream of asking her husband to change a diaper or get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby. Now, he's considered a barbarian if he doesn't automatically change the diapers -- even the poopie ones -- or volunteer for a nighttime feeding once in a while.
Husbands these days not only know how to work the dishwasher, they can load it and put the clean dishes away. And most of them can actually do the laundry as well.
A hundred years ago, the most sophisticated baby devices were -- oh, wait, there weren't any baby "devices." They didn't have monitors for the baby's room, baby carriers that morphed into carseats, strollers named after Cadillacs (and with almost as many features!), Diaper Genies, or diaper bags with fifteen compartments.
A father living a hundred years ago, would get up early in the morning and sit down to a hot breakfast before going off to work. He would put in his 8 or 10 hours at the job, then come home to another hot meal, read the newspaper, and spend some time throwing the ball around with his sons while his wife washed the dishes and located his slippers. Now, he gets up when he feels like it. He may or may not go in to the office, or he may just work at home on his computer. If he eats breakfast, he prepares it himself, usually a Pop Tart or cold leftover pizza from the night before. He works a few hours, goes to lunch with a friend, and arrives back home in time to drive the kids to karate before taking the family out to eat--again. Hot, home-cooked meals are a rarity, as is playing ball outside with the kids. They would rather play mind-numbing video games or watch mindless television. He drifts back to his computer the first chance he gets to check on his business, tucks the kids in bed a couple of hours later, then collapses in the big chair where he spends a couple of hours with his wife whose worn-out feet always need a nighttime rub.
Yes, much has changed in the last 100 years.... Husbands and fathers have had to learn to do a lot of things they would rather not even know about. They have seen things that make the movie "Alien" hard to watch. And amazingly they probably get a lot less respect than their predecessors.
But just for the record, I want the father of my children to know that on this Fathers Day, after 15 years of marriage, after the births of our two children, too many illnesses to count, major surgery, etc., I happen to think you're a pretty good husband and dad. Of course, all that was the easy stuff.... Next come the teenage years, college tuition, middle and old-age maladies, our daughter's wedding, counseling fees, grandchildren and all the new and improved baby devices, ....