My daughter Annie is a lacrosse player, and typically plays in a summer travel league, meaning that during the summer there are a number of weekend tournaments to which we travel.
I’m also a divorced dad with partial custody, which means some of these tournaments are scheduled on weekends when Annie isn’t with me. Some of them I travel to anyway, and some of them I don’t.
For the last two years, the league has scheduled a far-away tournament on Father’s Day. This year they seemed to have realized the error of their ways and decided not to attend this tournament. The tournament itself, however, is still happening.
I want you to imagine this scenario: A tournament scheduled on Mother’s Day.
People would go ballistic. It would probably end up all over social media, and the tournament host would likely be boycotted and generally vilified.
Nothing of the sort happened for the Father’s Day tournament. And frankly, I was just as much at fault as the next guy – I didn’t say anything either. But it would be really nice if fathers stopped being treated as second-class parents. I’m opening my mouth more. Maybe we all should.