Changing the narrative to positive fatherhood

A FEW weeks ago while going to the country, I stopped to have breakfast. As I sat to eat, I glanced to the nearby booth, and there sat a young father, in his early 20s I guessed, sitting with his child, a boy about five years old, and ever so tenderly, the father was feeding his son porridge, spoonful by spoonful, encouraging him to eat. I stared as this precious parental moment and marvelled that we do not ‘see’ or rather acknowledge such men in Jamaica. It was evident to me that this was not the first time this father had fed his son, and the patience that he exhibited was inspiring.

About a month earlier, I had gone to Hellshire and coming out of the sea I saw a dreadlocks man unplaiting his daughter’s hair. I spied from the sand, bending my ear to eavesdrop … “Daddy, me wan go swim.”

“Sit still let me pull out yu hair den we swim. Me will shampoo it laata.”

The little girl twisted a few times while the dread undid her plaits and her younger brother danced on the beach before them. When her father was done, he lifted her on his shoulder, the son holding on to his leg and they waded into the sea, laughter spilling from them like a welcome shower of rain in parched July. I wish I had had my camera. I wanted to capture that moment of loving tenderness and caring between father and daughter and son.

Almost daily, coming back from my walk, I see a young father walking his two sons to school. They are often animated and in conversation. One morning he bent to tie the shoelace of his younger son, then they kept walking. I waved at them, said good morning and told the young father that I enjoy seeing him walking his sons to school in the morning. He smiled and replied, “Is jus so life go.”

On yet another occasion while taking a taxi to a meeting, the driver said “excuse me, but me ave fi check pan me dawta”.

I listened as he instructed her to take the chicken that was already seasoned out the fridge, to cut up onions and carrots and peppers, to cook rice and make a salad with tomatoes and lettuce, and to make sure her younger sister did her homework and she was to do the same. After he got off the phone,