Forty Days to Father’s Day

A Celebration of Dads and Fatherhood

Forty days to Father’s Day.

We need to tell more diverse stories about fatherhood.

It took me till 2021 to realise it, but there’s not a whole heckuva lot that happens in the five or six weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Yes, here in Toronto we have the Victoria Day statutory holiday and the school year wrapping up, but we don’t see the same fanfare for fathers that we see for mothers in early May.

With my eighth Father’s Day just on the horizon, I’ve heard plenty of the issues that many dads have with the days, whether it’s getting gifts that feel last-minute or not being able to see their kids on the day. Father’s Day is not amazing for all.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Casey Palmer hanging out with his youngest son at an Indigo Chapters bookstore in Scarborough.

When the pandemic slowed things down, it gave me the opportunity to break things down and really understand what Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad is actually about. Through the power of search engine optimization and streamlining over two thousand posts from the last twenty years into something a lot more manageable, I went deep down the rabbit hole of what the world thought about its fathers and realised:

We have a lot of work to do.

Forty Days to Father’s Day: Forty diverse stories about fatherhood. It’s LONG overdue.

What fathers needed was a whole lot of change, and just as I learned from the work I do for Black History Month, fatherhood would need more than a post or two in mid-June for a proper facelift, and that’s when it hit me—

Why do one or two posts when you can do forty?

Forty Days to Father’s Day—or FD² for short (but no one’s going to call it that)—is the celebration dads have been looking for, with forty topics to carry us through from May the 12th (three days after Mother’s Day) all the way through to Father’s Day on June 20th, showing the world that fathers are more than the single dimension we so often assign them.

We’re raising kids in an increasingly challenging world. Some dads are fighting for their rights when it feels like they have none. I wanted to cover the full spectrum of what we encounter through the fatherhood experience so the world could understand it’s so much more than the low bar it’s set for us.

And so, without further ado, I’d like to present Forty Days to Father’s Day: A Celebration of Dads and Fatherhood. I hope this series can help educate you on everything that fathers go through so you can be more informed with respect to fatherhood issues.


The featured image for the first post of my Forty Days to Father's Day series, with a group of men of different ages and ethnicities looking at the camera.

Forty Days to Father’s Day: The Intro

Forty Days to Father's Day #1
This year, I've cooked up Forty Days to Father's Day, a forty-post series to change the way we talk about fatherhood! Dads. Ler's do this.
The featured image for "Forty Days to Father's Day #2": Casey Palmer holding his newborn son, with the title on a rose argyle background.

What IS a Father? The Definition of a Dad.

Forty Days to Father's Day #2
What is a father, ANYWAY? I found it hard to answer until I finally got to Googling. Here are 1300 words on what makes someone a DAD.
A photo of Casey Palmer reading Curious George to his eldest son in a comfortable armchair in their living room.

The Importance of Sharing Fatherhood Stories

Forty Days to Father's Day #3
To change the way the world sees fathers, we need to start sharing our fatherhood stories. It will take time, courage and grit, but we must!
Casey hanging out with his sons in his home office during the pandemic. Casey doesn't look impressed at the boys make faces at the camera.

Who Wants to be a Dad, ANYWAY?

Forty Days to Father's Day #4
"Who wants to be a dad, ANYWAY?" In a society that makes fatherhood feel like it should be avoided at all costs, here's my take on it!
Casey at the baby shower for his first child posing with a baby toque on his head.

Getting Ready for a BABY: First Steps to Fatherhood!

Forty Days to Father's Day #5
Getting ready for a baby is difficult for both moms- and dads-to-be in very different ways, and I'm here to give a few tips for the guys!
The featured image for the sixth Forty Days to Father's Day piece, featuring Casey holding his eldest son at six months old in May 2014. They're standing in the Palmer household kitchen.

First Steps to Fatherhood: A Year Makes a Difference!

Forty Days to Father's Day #6
A theory: If more dads could stick around till their baby hit six months old, we'd have less deadbeat dads. A piece on early fatherhood!
The featured image for the seventh "Forty Days to Father's Day" piece for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad, featuring Casey Palmer and his eldest son, 2014

13 Things Dads Need to Know When Having Kids

Forty Days to Father's Day #7
Fatherhood isn't easy, and there are MANY things dads should know when they first have kids! I asked some dads what advice THEY'D give!
The featured image for Forty Days for Father's Day #8 featuring Casey with his youngest son in a baby carrier.

It’s Not Babysitting if it’s Your Kid.

Forty Days to Father's Day #8
Despite whatever the world has to say, Dads? It's not babysitting if it's your kid. Here's what we need to do to change that perception.

The second logo for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad
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