Good morning. Ahead of Father’s Day, we take a look at the dads who want a more equal version of parenting to go viral. More on that below, plus renewed calls for a Gaza ceasefire and updates on wildfire evacuees. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities and kills its top military leaders
- As Canada prepares for G7 leaders to meet this weekend, it must reckon with a series of unknowns
- The government House leader told a Liberal MP to shelve a motion on honorary citizenship for Jimmy Lai
- A Mississauga dentist has been identified as a Canadian killed when an Air India flight crashed yesterday shortly after takeoff
Shaun Frey, centre, with his daughters Olivia and Zoe. Mr. Frey shares dad jokes, DIY tips, parenting advice and the realities of fatherhood on his Instagram account.Sarah B Groot/The Globe and Mail
Father’s Day
Dads on social media are pushing for parenting parity
Hi, I’m Dave McGinn. I write about education for The Globe and Mail. Before that, I covered parenting and family life.
Each year for Father’s Day, I always have a few questions. What am I going to get my dad this year? But also, what even is it to be a dad? What is fatherhood, and how is it changing?
Last year, I looked at how fathers are putting in more time with their kids and doing more around the house.
Long before that, I talked to my dad about what things were like for him raising kids.
This year, I went looking for answers by talking to dad influencers.
They seemed like the perfect people to talk to about our understanding of fatherhood since they are trying to, well, influence our understanding of dads and the role they play in their families.
All of the influencers I spoke to are doing their best to be present in their kids’ lives by spending as much time with them as possible. They’re being honest about the mental-health struggles that can come with being a parent. They’re also cracking jokes.
Some started their accounts simply to document their lives as dads. Like Shaun Frey, a father of two in Airdrie, Alta., known as @ownitdad on social media.
Others, like Christophe Keyes, a father in Southern California – tagline “Dad on Duty”– are motivated to show how joyful raising kids can be.
“I’ve always been a proponent of being positive,” he told me.
Jonathan Kamba lifts his daughter into his house in Dieppe, N.B.Chris Donovan/The Globe and Mail
Jonathan Kamba, who goes by the wonderfully Canadian name @tuquedaddy, told me the reason his content resonates with people is because it’s not a contrived portrayal. His most viral video shows how he soothes a fussy infant, with more than 20 million views.
But none of these fathers are looking for a pat on the back.
That’s true of dad influencers generally, said Casey Scheibling, a sociologist at the University of Nevada, who has studied dad bloggers.
“The motivation for many of these guys to start these blogs and other forms of media was just the persistent mass media stereotyping of fathers as either, you know, the bumbling Homer Simpson or the disconnected breadwinner who’s barely around,” he told me.
The overall idea of fatherhood that dad influencers are trying to get across, Scheibling said, is what he calls “caring masculinities.”
“It’s kind of a juxtaposition with the more ingrained, traditional masculinity that is associated with motivations around being tough and being a protector and being stoic,” he said.
Instead, Scheibling said, they want to be more empathetic, more inclusive and more emotionally engaged.
That’s an idea of fatherhood I think most people could get on board with, and one that we’re seeing society move closer to, even outside social media.
The question is, though, are dads listening? This is where things take an interesting turn.
“My followers are amazing, and so loyal – they’re all moms,” said Joseph Tito, an LGBTQ father of twin girls, who lives of Toronto and is the man behind @daddiaries.
Joseph Tito with his six-year-old twin daughters, Stella, left, and Mia.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
The other influencers I spoke to told me the majority of their followers are also women. But despite that, their content is still reaching a lot of dads.
“A lot of the content of mine that goes viral tends to be sent to a lot of husbands and men,” Frey said. “But they’re not really seeing it on their feeds.”
Tito told me he’d like us all to move away from thinking that moms and dads have prescribed roles.
“The mother’s role is not to cook dinner, and the dad’s role is not to go out to work. It’s a human role to do everything, right?”
That may be more true of social media than real life, but we do seem to be moving in that direction, however slowly – thanks, at least in part, to dad influencers.
That doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate dads who are doing the most – even the ones who aren’t on social media – because they’re still amazing.
Happy Father’s Day.
The Shot
’It all happened so quickly.’
A person walks past debris after an Air India aircraft crashed during take-off on June 12.Adnan Abidi/Reuters
More than 290 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London crashed minutes after taking off from the city of Ahmedabad, making it the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Fire evacuees from remote northern communities have had to make hard decisions about leaving their pets behind.
Abroad: The Trump administration says it will continue its crackdown to “liberate” L.A. as some 700 U.S. Marines will be deployed by the end of the week.
A vote: Canada joined 148 other countries in voting for a UN resolution that calls for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza.
A proposal: Telus signals interest in buying back its affiliate, Telus Digital, for more than US$400-million.
A win: The Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in overtime to tie the Stanley Cup final in Game 4.