COLIN HOGG
COLIN SAYS FATHERS AND GRANDDADS ARE WORTH MENTIONING
If I was ever, heaven forbid, to make the news as a result of some terrible accident, you can safely bet your last dollar that the heading on the story about it would not read, “Grandfather crushed by runaway elephant”. Nor will I ever be described as “a father of six” or in any way defined by my breeding history.
However, if I happened to be a woman, it would be a different story. I was reminded of this old-fashioned foolishness just the other day when I spotted a heading in my usually sensible morning paper reading, “Car hits grandma’s house”. It was a story from my old town, Invercargill, concerning a “grandmother” who “got a car-sized shock” when an out-of-control vehicle crashed through the wall of her spare bedroom, injuring no-one.
“It is believed,” the story continued, “an elderly man was the driver.” No mention was made of whether that elderly man was, in fact, a grandfather. That sort of thing’s not important if you’re a man, apparently, though of course that’s not really true at all. Just ask any grandfather.
So what I’m left wondering in these modern, enlightened times, is the story, with such an article where a woman is given added value because she’s a mother or, better still it seems, a grandmother? The story, sadly, is that things change more slowly than they should sometimes.
But, all the same, the times are most definitely a-changing, as a famous grandfather called
Bob Dylan once observed.
Bob, the legendary musician, has a bumper sticker on one of his cars that reads, “World’s Greatest Grandpa”. Bob currently has nine grandchildren, though probably not many people among his generations of fans think of him as a grandfather.
Even US President Donald Trump is a grandfather, running just behind Bob, with eight, and no-one talks about that either. And, given his slightly boastful nature, it could even be that Donald has the same bumper sticker as Bob.
It does appear, though, that there is a new generation of men who are more than happy to be defined as dads, and eventually granddads. Two notable fathers worth mentioning are Prince William and Clarke Gayford, partner of our Prime Minister.
The prince has recently become a father – you might have noticed – to his third child, while First Bloke Clarke is about to become a dad for the first time, a life-altering experience for any man.
And I mention these two men because, whether they want to be or not, they’re role models for a new world full of dads looking for clues. The prince, for instance, was not only present at the births, but faultlessly demonstrated how to buckle his babies into their carseats.
I imagine Clarke has already been practising, out of sight in the garage with the new baby seat, and he’d better get it right because a nation will be watching. Though I’m sure he’ll be fine and he’s going to love being a stay-at-home dad. I did. I still think about it and feel all soft inside.