Where Are The Dads?

This morning on the news report, I listened to heart-breaking reports about single mothers and their poverty issues. With hundreds of thousands of children in poverty in this province, a thriving one in spite of complaints, we should do better. But how? Why do we have so many single mothers? Where are the fathers? Why aren't they part of the scenario of parental responsibility? Is it perhaps too easy for fathers to simply walk away saying " it's not my fault". Ahem, it is fifty percent "your fault", dads. Because you don't have baby bumps, you do share equally in every way, of the full burden in rearing the child you fathered. Or have you forgotten? It is your child, your genetic future and your human contribution to society. Parenting, whether it's with two parents living under the same roof or not, is still parenting. For men, leaving a union with children, however it has evolved, remains a vital need that they assist in supporting their offspring, not only financially but also, emotionally. While a woman cannot walk away from the children she bears, usually, it's a lot easier for a male to just opt out of a union and take up a new life for himself, conveniently forgetting that his own genetic little person exists and needs him. I realize that, all too often, fathers are the single parents and have the same feelings of frustration and loss. And while this may be true, it's not common. Men make more money doing jobs that are not designed for women and their biological forms. Women who have to work at lower paying jobs that do not meet the family need for food, rent, child care and all the other issues in having children, stay home and live on inadequate government assistance. It's not enough, and this Christmas, while "normal" families are running around planning holidays and gifts, other families in poverty are wondering how they can explain to their kids why they can't. There are food banks and public housing, but it's never enough, and why not when we have billionaires floating about cavorting their indulgences on You Tube? There are enough dollars on earth so that no children have to go to bed without sugar plums dancing in their heads. And you fathers who forgot your children, think about it.