"Chip off the old block" won't do. It's lame, at least compared to "daddy's girl." The DG is (usually) favored, but the boy who is close to his father? (Not that "momma's boy" is a good thing.) What should he be called that will make both son and father proud? Suggestions welcome.
Indulgence is the anti-gravity. Too much for you and the kids quickly and unhappily fall to earth, feeling neglected. Too much for them and a dad descends heavily to ground (or even below, depending on the weight of the spoilage), possibly broke but certainly having to deal with bratty kinder. Put another way, indulgence is a fulcrum for the pleasure seesaw.
How is "dutiful son" synonymous with "weenie?" Without taking anything away from the idea of a woman as a caregiver, it is not impossible that the male, too, can be sandwiched between caring for children and parents. Rather than offer props for the effort and achievement, most consider the male struggling with taking care of one or two generations of family as perhaps well intentioned, most likely incompetent and almost definitely unhappy in other personal relationships. A better PR agent or even a Washington, D.C., lobbying group is needed ASAP.
Kindergarteners (or 5/6th graders, 8th graders, HS and college seniors) listening to speakers drone on through five and ten minute (up to interminable) sets of bloated prose. All that is missing is the cartoon balloon over the heads of those ostensibly being honored captioned with "Blah ... Blah ... Blah...."
And the moms weep. And the dads are backseat directed which shots to get on video. Or the dads are not able to make the 9:45 in the morning assembly.
But listen to the in-corner chatter of a few dads and you hear an understanding that the ceremony is not really about the kids at all. It is a Rube Goldberesque social rite that lets us complain (about the length; about the money; about the good old days; about the ingratitude of the kids; about the moms) while taking great pride in our own honoree.
THE easy stoop is for a women drivers joke, but it could be moms and nannies do it more just because they are with the kids more. Don't stand on the sidewalk — or worse, between parked cars — waiting to cross the street with the stroller in front of you and exposed to traffic. The species did not survive with the babies protecting the senile.
