Mark Woods: Dads deserve better than stereotypes

If you’d have told me of the undiluted delight I’d feel on receiving them I’d have advised you sat down and have a cup of something sweet. But that’s what happened and I’m not ashamed to admit it, or the fact that I think Fathers’ Day has never been more needed or more important.

To their eternal credit the website Netmums carried out a poll last week and drew attention to the at times appalling way in which fathers are portrayed in many children’s TV shows and other media targeted at a younger audience.I’ve labeled this phenomenon the “silly Daddy” syndrome in my parenting books and have tried to actively avoid certain shows which paint a particularly hapless picture of fathers, or at least attempt to redress the balance a little where, as is the case with Peppa Pig for instance, there is absolutely no escape from it. The survey found that 93 per cent of all parents felt the portrayal of Dads in the media doesn’t reflect what they contribute to families.

Which is reassuring because the likes of Daddy Pig contribute little more than a curly-tailed butt of all jokes and lampoonery as he either takes ham-fistedness to all its literal destinations or does his best to avoid lifting a trotter to help on any way. I can hear the mock violins being played from here, but imagining a similar glut of lazy stereotypes being punted to our children around the role, capabilities and attitudes of women soon puts things in sharp focus, and if a similar line was taken with outdated and insidiously toxic racial non-truths, there would, quite rightly, be uproar.

There’s an element of backlash here of course, of righting old wrongs, but it’s time programmes got with the programme, millions of Dads play central roles to the running of their home and day-to-day job of helping to make a family tick and with the ever-increasing earning power of working women and the upcoming change in maternity/paternity sharing laws that will only increase.

In the meantime let’s enjoy Father’s Day and the chance to put our clogs up for a bit.

Twitter @mark_r_woods