The Unsung Mothers

I was thinking of writing something about Mother’s Day when someone from the Patna Diaries’ Team gave me the idea to write about Single Father’s.

My first reaction was, why should I write about men on Mother’s Day?

But, then when I tried to think rationally about it, I realised that we are not celebrating women’s day. We are celebrating Mother’s Day. A single father has to play the role of both father and mother. So, we need to recognise their contribution too.

In India, finding a single father’s is a little challenging.

In the case of divorce, most of the times, the mother gets custody. And, in the case of widowers, they tend to re-marry. We can find a lot of single mothers. But, how many single fathers do you know?Young men who do not want to marry, but do want to raise kids go for adoption. Famous celebrities like Karan Johar, Tusshar Kapoor are fine examples for loving single fathers. As I said single fathers are a very small community in India.  Thus, it is more important to support them and let them know they are being acknowledged for all the handwork they put in.

A single father has to explore this feminist side.

He needs to be warm. And needs to be available for his kids. Also needs to let his kids know that they can trust their father with all kind of embarrassing stories and not be judged.

Typically all these characteristics are associated with a mother, a woman.

But, that is again a gender stereotype and a gender role that is forced upon us from this society. We have come a long way from the time our civilisation started. And We need to change some rules in society.

Also We need to come in terms, that the gender roles that we have forced on both men and women are not the correct one.

The single fathers are trying hard to break these social norms. So, today on Mother’s Day, we at Patna Diaries, would like to wish a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the single fathers. We understand and support all the sacrifices that you must be doing in order to raise your kids perfectly. You are doing your best. So, be proud of yourself.

Do you know anyone is a single father? Do let us know. We would love to hear their stories.

Happy Mothering 🙂