THREE SIGNS TO LOOK FOR BEFORE INVOLVING YOUR PARTNER IN FATHER’S DAY CELEBRATIONS
Knowing when to recognise your partner on Father’s Day for your child can be tricky. The solution to this isn’t always clear cut.
Today, the majority of primary carers are mothers. This means that when they have a new relationship, the impact on the child can be significant and this is also reflected in determining whether you should be celebrating your partner on Father’s Day.
To celebrate your partner on Father’s Day or not to celebrate them is a delicate game to play – you don’t want to do it too early and have your partner feel pushed into the relationship and you also don’t want to force your child into viewing your partner as a father-figure.
A couple of years ago, my children had a unique situation whereby their father wasn’t involved, their grandfather was out of the state and their uncle was out of the country. The school Father’s Day breakfast was fast approaching and I asked them what they wanted to do and whether they wanted to go. I knew of other families where the mother went in lieu of the father for Father’s Day breakfast. I braced myself for having two children take the day off school. I was open to them asking a family friend to take them… however, I was not prepared for them to suggest that my ‘flame’ go to the breakfast with them. At the time, he wasn’t a ‘partner’. I felt as though the children were racing in their relationship with my ‘person’ and I was left in the dust trying to catch up!
Here are three signs to look for that can signal recognising your partner on Father’s Day:
Caution: Please be aware that celebrating your partner should not be at the expense of celebrating the child’s biological father, especially if the biological father is an active participant in your child’s life. Your child, if they want, can celebrate both men for Father’s Day. Every person’s individual circumstances and situations must be considered for the appropriateness of this guidance.
Father’s Day doesn’t have to be a massive event and it certainly doesn’t have to be exclusively for the biological father. It is a day to celebrate all of the wonderful male role models in all of our lives – yours included!
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