Dads aren't dummies
I recently saw a trailer for the movie "Moms' Night Out". It is the Christian world's answer to the raunchy film "The Hangover".
From what I could tell of "Moms' Night Out", it appears that a handful of moms get a much-needed night out on the town while their bumbling husbands "babysit" the kids for the evening. It appears from the trailer that based on their idiocy, it seems unlikely these dads have ever been allowed unsupervised contact with their children before. The results are slapstick-filled hilarity with an eventual happy ending. And I'm sure the dads wind up realizing just how hard their wives work as "real" parents.
Since seeing the trailer I have been bothered by the film's portrayal of dads. But it isn't just this film that portrays fathers as incompetent nincompoops. Many movies and television shows portray dads the same way. From a comedy standpoint, it is a guaranteed formula for easy laughs. It isn't difficult to get a laugh when some idiot dad to accidentally puts breast milk in his coffee instead of creamer or when he diapers the child in a bath towel because he is too dumbfounded by diapers to do anything else.
Besides the laughs, though, is there a deeper, more troubling trend behind these portrayals? Do we as women really view men this way? I certainly don't view my husband that way. He is a great dad and does a great job with our daughters. (Side note: Do I firmly believe that I'm better at finding that thing that is RIGHT THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT WHERE I TOLD HIM TO LOOK AND YET HE STILL DIDN'T SEE IT? Of course. And so was my mother before me along with countless scores of mothers before her. There might be something to that one little quirk of many men.) I would never in my wildest imagination think of my husband as a moron who would accidentally lose our child while I'm out having dinner with my friends. Of course not. If I married someone that stupid then shame on me. My husband is perfectly capable of being more than some lousy babysitter I'm stuck with when I go out. That's because he is the FATHER of our children. He parents them all the time, whether I'm in the room or not. He's not their babysitter. And he's not an idiot.
So, next time you watch some bumbling idiot of a dad on TV or a movie, just think about all the great dads you know whose lives aren't a slapstick comedy. And then remember to tell them you think they are great parents.
From what I could tell of "Moms' Night Out", it appears that a handful of moms get a much-needed night out on the town while their bumbling husbands "babysit" the kids for the evening. It appears from the trailer that based on their idiocy, it seems unlikely these dads have ever been allowed unsupervised contact with their children before. The results are slapstick-filled hilarity with an eventual happy ending. And I'm sure the dads wind up realizing just how hard their wives work as "real" parents.
Since seeing the trailer I have been bothered by the film's portrayal of dads. But it isn't just this film that portrays fathers as incompetent nincompoops. Many movies and television shows portray dads the same way. From a comedy standpoint, it is a guaranteed formula for easy laughs. It isn't difficult to get a laugh when some idiot dad to accidentally puts breast milk in his coffee instead of creamer or when he diapers the child in a bath towel because he is too dumbfounded by diapers to do anything else.
Besides the laughs, though, is there a deeper, more troubling trend behind these portrayals? Do we as women really view men this way? I certainly don't view my husband that way. He is a great dad and does a great job with our daughters. (Side note: Do I firmly believe that I'm better at finding that thing that is RIGHT THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT WHERE I TOLD HIM TO LOOK AND YET HE STILL DIDN'T SEE IT? Of course. And so was my mother before me along with countless scores of mothers before her. There might be something to that one little quirk of many men.) I would never in my wildest imagination think of my husband as a moron who would accidentally lose our child while I'm out having dinner with my friends. Of course not. If I married someone that stupid then shame on me. My husband is perfectly capable of being more than some lousy babysitter I'm stuck with when I go out. That's because he is the FATHER of our children. He parents them all the time, whether I'm in the room or not. He's not their babysitter. And he's not an idiot.
So, next time you watch some bumbling idiot of a dad on TV or a movie, just think about all the great dads you know whose lives aren't a slapstick comedy. And then remember to tell them you think they are great parents.
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