You don’t have to roll back the years too far to find a time when most dads took a backseat in parenting. When they were depicted as the breadwinners and the more distant and less hands-on parent.
It’s only recently that you often find dads in the playground and dads at toddler groups, and it’s more of the norm and less of an event to be talked about with great interest.
Today many fathers are choosing to prioritise time with their family over work and other commitments. Many dads have also become more involved with the day-to-day care of their kids. They regularly take over the childcare for hours or even days at a time, to do their bit. And how do they manage with the kids by themselves? Just fine!
The colder and more authoritative ‘father’ figure has been replaced by a softer and more nurturing ‘dad’. And just because they’re more cuddly doesn’t mean they’ve completely shed their ‘tough guy’ image either.
As these celebrity Dads show us all too well that you can be tough and soft at the same time. They show us what it means to be a 21st Century dad:
The Rock
We LOVE Dwayne Johnson aka ‘The Rock’.
Especially when he shares photos and stories of how much he loves being a dad. He was not afraid to shed his tough guy movie persona to gush about becoming a father for the first time in an Instagram post that amassed over 10 million likes. He wrote:
Skin to skin. Our mana.
Blessed and proud to bring another strong girl into this world.
Tiana Gia Johnson came into this world like a force of nature and Mama @laurenhashianofficial labored and delivered like a true rockstar.
I was raised and surrounded by strong, loving women all my life, but after participating in baby Tia’s delivery, it’s hard to express the new level of love, respect and admiration I have for @laurenhashianofficial and all mamas and women out there.
Word to the wise gentlemen, it’s critical to be by your lady’s head when she’s delivering, being as supportive as you can.. holding hands, holding legs, whatever you can do. But, if you really want to understand the single most powerful and primal moment life will ever offer – watch your child being born. Its a life changer and the respect and admiration you have for a woman, will forever be boundless.
And to my third and youngest daughter, Tiana Gia – like I did when your two older sisters Simone Alexandra and Jasmine Lia were born, you have my word, I’ll love, protect, guide and make ya laugh for the rest of my life.
Your crazy dad has many responsibilities and wears many hats in this big ol’ world, but being your dad will always be the one I’m most proud to wear.
Oh and one more thing.. you’re gonna love rollin’ in daddy’s pick up truck.
Since then he’s continued to post beautiful open messages to his daughters and partner on instagram, which his fans love. And better still these heartfelt posts sit right alongside his tough action movie character shots and heavy weight lifting posts.
Prince Harry
Harry and Meghan chose to rewrite the rules and do it their way.
In his first interview after the birth of their son Archie, women everywhere applauded as Prince Harry spoke about how amazing women are to go through labour and birth. He said:
How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension
His comments on the strength of women giving birth prompted a flurry of comments on social media, like this tweet from Lauri Thomas, who wrote:
Just watched Prince Harry gushing about his just born baby boy!!! The kudos he gave to his wife, and all women for going through the process of childbirth was beautiful!!
And in the royal couple’s first photoshoot it was Harry who held baby Archie.
Whether the move was planned or not, the image of Harry holding his newborn baby and smiling from ear to ear, showed him as a hands on dad and having every intention of being an involved parent.
And he looked like the proudest new dad in the world too.
Daniel Craig
Ah the papoose-gate. The media erupted when James Bond (well, Daniel Craig) was snapped out and about wearing his new baby in a sling.
Piers Morgan made headlines for calling any man who carries his baby in a papoose as ‘emasculating’ and ‘unmanly’.
We think Daniel Craig sent a big message to the world about why it’s so great for dads to be an involved dad. After all – if anyone can rock a papoose – James Bond can.
John Legend
On social media he gushes about how amazing it is to be a dad. But he also posts about how much he loves, values and appreciates his wife, Chrissy Teigen. And we adore him even more for that.
We just LOVE this video where he sings to and dances with his baby, captioning the post with ‘God only knows what I’d do without you’. Heart melting…
So let’s hear it for the great dads out there and for the celebs who are showing us what a 21st century dad looks like.
As the Australian poet Pam Brown once said:
Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventures, story-tellers, and singers of songs.
She was so right.
