Ten years ago, not many thought of taking the man of the house out for a treat during Father's Day , but things are different today. Over in Penang, the day is celebrated by more and more families with each passing year. Doesn't matter if the Dads themselves, are expected to pick up the tab for their own dinner, presents etc. It has become a must celebrate day.
However, this year, I noticed an emerging trend of families dining out, albeit with missing moms. Not so noticeable last year.
This year, Dad's there, the grown up teenage/adult kids are there, they're sitting down together enjoying a really nice makan ....without Mom...who's conspiciously out of the picture. Brave picture,not so pained,compared to the vice versa situation on Mother's Day, one, because the Moms that successfully get hauled out , minus life partner, sport such pained expressions , two,you won't notice it since she found a one day Dad date for your family untogether day .
Me : " Hey,this is weird, there can't be a case of so many missing Moms on Father's Day "
Him : " I'm not surprised, a quarter of my classmates have no fathers "
Me : " Whaaat ? Why ? What happened to them ? "
Him : " They're dead "
Me : " What ???? All of them ?? "
Him : " Yeah . dead "
Me : " Impossible....ok, tell me, how many have divorced parents ?"
Him : " Um...only one "
Me : " huh, guess the stigma of divorce still looms eh "
Him : " They're not divorced. I told you what they told me. Only one family out of my whole class have divorced. The others all have dead dads "
Me : " right "
Now, I'm guessing it must be part of the 'save face ' measure, meant to partially protect kids from busybody adults ? Him : " Um...only one "
Me : " huh, guess the stigma of divorce still looms eh "
Him : " They're not divorced. I told you what they told me. Only one family out of my whole class have divorced. The others all have dead dads "
Me : " right "
Like how some Chinese moms like to say " Nei lou tau sei chor ler " when they're pissed off with the ( horrible-ler) half ? Guess the kids actually think their Dads really died ?
Well, back to the point,which is dead Dads that miraculously materialise during Father's Day celebrations, at the very same time Mommies temporarily move out of the picture. On the bright side , it does show that no matter what the circumstance is, the missing Moms sportingly allow them space for a get together, so the proud Dads can have their moment.
What I can tell you, is that although nobody wants 2 warring adults on the same dinner table, no kid, given half the choice, wants to celebrate with one parent MIA on their own accord unless they're really dead. Six feet underground.
Vice versa on Mother's Day. Poor kids having to nurse a mother's wounded heart , shuttling her out of happy families way, even tough some are obviously just window dressing .
Sure tough being a kid these days, especially those with circumstantially 'dead' parents. You gotta give them that much credit, that's for sure, the kids I mean...the kids.
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