The World’s Greatest Dads
don’t need mugs or t-shirts
to tell us who they are.
We’d recognize them anywhere.
They’re the men secure enough
to carry diaper bags and sing sweet lullabies,
to tickle and twirl their daughters,
to cuddle and kiss their sons,
to talk to angels and fairies and toads,
to value love more than things,
to let their children see them cry.
They’re the fathers brave enough
to stand up for all children,
to pray for guidance & practice gratitude,
to accept that which they cannot change,
to admit when they’ve made mistakes,
to consider parenting a partnership.
These are the dads
we want our kids to look up to,
we want our sons to become,
we want to be the new norm,
we want to celebrate with wild abandon
and thank from the bottom of our hearts.
I wrote the original version of this poem in 2009, but felt compelled to tweak it a little and share it again, just in time for Father’s Day. I’m so grateful I grew up with one of the world’s greatest dads and that now my kids are growing up with one, too.
