Father's Day Gifts

For Father’s Day, I wanted to find a special something for David.  

I googled Father’s Day gifts to see if there was anything that popped out at me. He’s one of these guys you’d say has everything he wants and if he doesn’t have it, he doesn’t want it, or he’d have bought it himself. But I like giving presents, and I know he likes opening them, so I started to explore what the internet had to offer.  

Good housekeeping ("60 Best Father’s Day Gifts 2021”) was one of the top 5 search results and the first I checked out when I performed this search at 3 a.m., after one of my bathroom trips that left me wide awake.

In prior years, my searches have been disappointing, because they have been so stereotypical of what people think of for men, yielding such results as those related to beer, cooking on the grill, sports, jokes and patting dad on the back with “Number One Dad” items. None of these  created any kind of spark in me (other than perhaps the grill) that I’d want to buy for someone I want to honor.  

However, this search on goodhousekeeping.com had some potential overall, even though I was initially discouraged when I saw numero uno on the list was “Cooling Pint Glasses” for beer.

There were all the usual culprits mentioned above, including a “Best Farter Ever” mug as the 2^nd suggestion which, call me a curmudgeon, doesn’t seem worthy of this kind of list. There were some items, however, that caught my eye in a good way because, unlike others I recall from the past, they seemed to reflect the man of today: a gift card for a master class in a variety of areas including cooking, photography, music and so on, a History-by-Mail six-month subscription and a book called “100 Hikes of a Lifetime,” cool athletic wear, some electronics and lots that fit in the broad category of all things food. 

One thing that seemed way over the top was a scotch-infused toothpick gift set. That truly is for the man who has everything.

I found it interesting that on that whole list, there were only a few items that related to being a dad, including a personalized “Super Dad” book and a customized portrait of the whole family. I was most fascinated by the “Dad Hoodie,” a manly version of a diaper bag that a dad would wear as a vest, with or without a sweatshirt.

I still didn’t find anything on this list that I’d buy for David, or any of other items that I’d want for myself other than the book on hikes.

Given that I was still wide awake at about 3:45 a.m., I decided to scroll through the Mother’s Day suggestions to see how they compare.  

I was surprised and not surprised at the same time that the first item on Mom’s list was called “What a Difference a Day Makes,” which is a burlap print with the most important dates of her life, starting with the date she got married and then the date the kids were born.

So the first recommendation for dad is a frosty glass for an ice-cold beer, and the first for mom is framed artwork displaying important dates, starting with her marriage. Why is this not the first suggestion for dad, or why is the first suggestion for mom not a frosty glass for a cold one?

It was clear that most of dad’s recommendations are for his own pleasure, with mom’s being family oriented.

What did I learn from this hour-long research project? 

That, in some instances, the world has recognized the changing roles of moms and dads. In many cases, dads are doing much more than what used to be expected of men, certainly compared to when I was growing up.  

My guess is that despite these advances, stereotypes may prevail, with men being men and women being women…although we all might interpret this differently.  Hopefully I haven’t offended anyone by making this comment.

What did I end up getting David, you wonder?

An oldie but a goodie: a beautiful glass picture of his daughter and granddaughter, with big smiles on their faces.