by Dr. Hannah Ifeoluwa Adefala

I see lots of commercials celebrating women and talking about how amazing our mothers are and how we need to be thankful that we have them. I totally agree because I have one of the most amazing God-sent mother on earth but what happened to celebrating our fathers?

My girl-friend and I were talking about random stuff and then she was like ‘hmmmm!’

When we talk and she does that, I know she wants to talk about something very important. So immediately I heard that, my ears immediately perked up like an antenna. LOL!

“I think I’m in love…”, she said distantly.

“Ok, what’s wrong with that?” I asked

Friend: “He has a kid.”

Me: “And so? Is he married?”

Friend: “No, he isn’t. But how would I cope with that? Wouldn’t he love his child more than he loves me?”

She started telling me how much the guy adores his daughter, how he spends time with her at every little opportunity he has and so on.

You know what? Listening to her made me realize how under-appreciated our fathers are.

Mothers are super-humans, they hold the family together, and they are the back-bone of the family. Yes, we hear that all the time but I think we pay too much attention to our mothers, so much that we fail to acknowledge our fathers.

Our fathers, who work hard so hard to ensure there is money for the woman to take care of the house-hold. Our fathers, who have sleepless nights when something goes wrong at work just because they are scared they might not be able to provide for their family.

Our fathers, who struggle so hard to finish work on time so they could see and hug their kids goodnight before going to bed.

Our fathers are basically ‘forgotten contributors’ to a child’s development.

I see lots of commercials celebrating women and talking about how amazing our mothers are and how we need to be thankful that we have them. I totally agree because I have one of the most amazing God-sent mother on earth but what happened to celebrating our fathers?

You think it’s easy having a penile erection let alone a potent and fertile sperm that formed you? Go to the hospital and you’ll see men with priapism or erectile dysfunction and they’ve given hope on having kids but here we are with our fathers yet a simple, “Daddy I love you!” or even a “Daddy, thank you!’’ it’s very difficult to say.

Yes, I know how difficult it is having to carry a big tummy for nine months and if you are lucky, you don’t get really sick and nauseous throughout. The pain of childbirth and nursing so we feel we owe so much to our mothers.

But come to think of it, it takes two consenting adults to lie in bed (except in cases of rape) to have sexual intercourse. Whatever the outcome, we should be responsible for it and we all know this is how we were created. If it wasn’t for that serpent who deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat the forbidden fruit, maybe women wouldn’t have been subjected to the pains of childbirth.

So it’s really not the man’s fault he doesn’t experience all of that but he has a share of his own punishment where he has to sweat and work hard before having something to eat.

Fathers are the bread-winners of the house. So, we shouldn’t forget the responsible ones out there who are religiously working hard so that their family gets the best.

According to Erik Erikson, (1902 – 1994) who was a child psychologist, “A father loves more dangerously because their love is, more expectant and more instrumental than a mother’s love.” He also stated that a father brings out unique contributions to the job of parenting a child than anyone else can provide.

Let’s forgive our dads if he woke up early before we got out of bed. Let’s forgive them if they didn’t get back from work before we went to bed. We only pray that God blesses their hustle so they be flexible with their time.

So, this is me saying ‘FATHERS, YOU ALL ROCK!’ and you are highly appreciated. Without you, there’d be no one to call our kids.

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