The un-held hand - Robin Hadley on Father's Day

Hadley, Robin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-7648 (2018) The un-held hand - Robin Hadley on Father's Day. World Childless Week Blog.

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Abstract

It is that time of year when strategies deployed at Christmas, New Year and sundry other ‘national family centred event days’ are taken down from the loft, dusted off and made ready: Father’s Day to my mind, has followed the marketization of Mother’s Day. Undoubtedly, next Monday’s news reports will give estimations of how many millions of pounds were spent on Father’s Day and how much more was spent on Mother's Day. It would appear that in order to acknowledge biological or social fatherhood a card, a present, and a meal specially priced (and specially defrosted and reheated) is now mandatory. Wherever you go displays inviting you to acknowledge your father or the father of your children abound. If you are one of the 25%* of men in the UK who are not fathers then Father’s Day can be a challenge. Of those 25% some will be delaying fatherhood because of career, fate, finance, housing, relationship and ‘the-right-time’ factors. Others would have decided they do not want to be a father. For those of us who wanted (or want) to be a Dad then Father’s Day is special in a different way.