Superdad Doyin Richards broke the internet last week when he posted a photo of himself multi-tasking. He was styling his daughter’s?hair while holding his baby in an Ergo.
However, he doesn’t want us to call him “Superdad.” He says that he’s doing what good dads all over the world do every single day and he thinks it’s unfortunate that people would see that photo or his devotion to his children as an anomaly.
“Don’t get me wrong here ? it’s a very cute picture, and it’s cool when people say so. However, I start to get a little uncomfortable when people want to start planning parade routes for me because of it. Somewhere there’s a dad doing the exact same thing for his daughters. Somewhere there’s a dad who put his foot down with his boss and refused to attend an ‘urgent staff meeting’ so he could leave work early to attend his daughter’s dance recital. Somewhere there’s a single dad successfully getting his three sons ready for school.”
He explains the story behind the viral photo in a blog post that he wrote for the Good Men Project, entitled “I Have a Dream: That People Will View a Picture Like This and Not Think It’s a Big Deal”:
?One morning last week, my MDW (Mommy Doin? Work) was running late for work and was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get DDW1’s (Daughter Doin? Work) hair done before I had to take her to school. I told her that she could leave and I’d handle it. She countered by saying that doing her hair requires attention and the baby would get upset if I left her alone while I played the role of stylist. Again, I told her that I’d handle it. On the way out she said,?I’ll believe it when I see it.?
That’s when I put DDW2 in the Ergo, stood DDW1 on a stool and worked my hair magic. During the process, I thought, There’s no way my wife will believe me if I don’t take a picture of this. That’s when I set my camera up, put it on a 10-second timer, and took the photo you’re about to see. After 15 minutes of multitasking, the final result was a nice, tight ponytail for big sister and a happily sleeping baby in the carrier. Mission accomplished. I emailed the photo to her with the caption ?Boom.? and we both got a good laugh out of it.
Little did I know how interesting things were about to become.?
Richards, who is on a leave from his work in learning development to care for his daughters, has seized on this attention to start a conversation about fatherhood. He maintains that most of the men who read his blog are actively involved in raising their children and see parenting as an equal partnership. From Yahoo:
“The picture stirs emotion for a few reasons,” Richards tells Yahoo Shine. “The media doesn’t portray fathers as caregivers. We’re seen as bumbling fools trying to figure out parenthood, or macho men pushing their kids into the NFL. The other issue is that there’s a stereotype that black fathers are deadbeats.”?
Sadly, Richards gets his share of hate messages from readers. He has a direct message for them.
“Memo to the small pocket of male haters I have: Why don’t you put big boy shorts on and get in on the revolution of good fathers? It’s not a good look to tear down dads for doing the work your wives wished you were man enough to do on your own. If you don’t believe me, just ask your spouses. They’ll tell you.”
I’m still gonna call him Superdad. I’ve known lots of amazing dads and I want to recognize all of them every chance I get.
You can follow Doyin on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Here’s a video from his blog:
h/t iacknowledge
