Dads' Club

Sunday morning at my local park is a bit of a treat. Even at nine in the morning the place is really busy but only with dads and their children. I dare say these dads have been told to take their kids out to give their wives a bit of a rest. The dads don't talk to each other though, they're all there in the play area with their heads down, most of the time looking at their phones in one hand as they push their child in the swing with the other. Dads' club.

I'm sure, before you say, that the dads all want to be there but for some reason they all go on mass on a Sunday morning and don't talk to each other.

I was down at dads club this morning as The Chancellor was still away in Leeds. If anyone looked in from the outside I was just like the other dads there on dads duty with their children, and yes I was on my phone.

I've also found out that there is another club, on a Saturday in the local church hall, for dads who work all week and they serve coffee and bacon sandwiches. How I haven't been to this is beyond me, but would I even be welcome at this club? Should The Chancellor be going for a cheeky processed meat sandwich?

As much as I like to think the number of stay at home dads is increasing, it's (sadly) not normal to see so many dads in the park at one time. The wee man and I spend half our time there during the week and we know the regulars pretty well and I have to say most of them are women. This isn't at all a bad thing but I can count on one hand the amount of other dads I know who do childcare of some form, full time and part time. I'm sure there are more out there in my area but I wish they would come to park during the week and maybe we could put our phones down and talk for a bit.

Tomorrow is Monday and the wee man and I will go back to our regular routine but maybe if I want to talk to men I should set up a club of my own. I'm sure if I served loads of booze dads would probably cry off work and come in the middle of the day. Would we still just sit on our phones with a beer replacing the child? Probably.

jpr