Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad

WHAT is a father, ANYWAY?

When people ask “what is a father”, that’s something I’ve struggled to adequately answer for years.

Through my many years spent as a dad blogger, I’ve tried repeatedly to create work that explains how I see myself as a dad. I’ve floundered over and over again in the process, never seeming to find the right words to fit, but it’d eventually be my newfound love for search engine optimization that’d give me some guidance on the kinds of things that people want to know about being a dad. Not all the questions go super deep, with many just at the beginning of the journey, but those questions gave me the building blocks I needed to tell my story in a way that others would understand.

And I think it’s important that I do—we have this oversimplified idea of what a father’s supposed to be, force-fed to us by a society who saw the dad as one thing. The father as the silent, grumpy disciplinarian, meant to be respected and feared. The one-dimensional dad who can throw a ball or barbecue a steak, but has little to offer by the way of household or emotional support.

But in 2021, I think we want to strive for a new standard, finding ways to show the world what the #DadLife’s really about instead of the stereotype we keep clinging to.

I’m Casey Palmer, and I’m a dad. Let me tell you a little of what that’s all about.

Forty Days to Father’s Day: Why I Decided to Write a Fatherhood Series

With Mother’s Day come and gone for another year, I’ve started thinking about Father’s Day and everything around it.

Many might think it’s too early for that—especially since we’re only days after the marketing onslaught that Mother’s Day always brings with it and we’d all like time to recover—but let me tell you a bit about how fathers see Father’s Day and why I’m already talking about it almost six weeks out.

Compared to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is a bit of a joke. Despite a growing number of men who are taking fatherhood very seriously, trying to change how the world sees us, there are a lot of past transgressions we need to overcome before dads are seen as people to be celebrated instead of simply tolerated.

It was something I’d notice as I started doing research for my book—a look at how the world saw its fathers:

“Why is my dad so angry?”

“Why do dads leave?”

“What is it like to have a dad?”

Compared to mothers, it feels like the world’s view on fathers can be overwhelmingly negative, and that has a whole lot to do with why Father’s Day feels like more of a concession than the celebration that we’d like it to be.

You hear it often, though, when it comes to raising kids—when faced with problems that feel so insurmountable because we see them wherever we look, there’s only one thing we can do to try and make things better:

We need to create the world we want to live in.

Last updated on May 5th, 2021 at 10:39 am

So it’s a week before Mother’s Day and much like every year, there are far too many people who leave their shopping to the last minute, failing to get the mothers in their lives the gifts they deserve for the occasion. I’ve heard far too many stories of  flowers bought in a rush at the local grocery store or gift cards to “that place she likes”, but even if you tell yourself it’s the thought that counts, here’s the problem:

One just needs a few clicks on a computer and the other you probably got ’cause you forgot.

What moms want this Mother’s Day is to feel appreciated, because as most parents can tell you, it takes a whole lot of effort to raise kids.

And that appreciation might need a little more than the carnations sitting next to the cashier at cash #7.

So that in mind, I wanted to create a last-minute guide for everyone out there who’s struggling to find a great gift idea this Mother’s Day. It’s a little challenging, especially somewhere where the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping us in our homes with a stay-at-home order in effect and in-person shopping just isn’t an option, but it’s not impossible—there are plenty of shops who offer virtual options, delivery or have plenty of great pick-up options available up to the day before Mother’s Day!

So without further ado, I’d like to welcome you to Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad’s Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gift Guide, full of ideas that’ll make sure to put a smile on Mom’s face when she opens it next Sunday! While some might not feel that a full week before Mother’s Day isn’t truly last-minute, that thinking’s what got us here in the first place.

Let me help you do better this year.