My Ikuman

One of the buzz words this year in Japan is "Ikumen." Basically, it's a play on words which means a father who is cool because he is involved with his kids. Shock! Horror! Yeah, in Japan fathers spending time with their kids is so rare that it becomes a news story.

All I can say about this trend is, it's about fricking time.

I guess it's like the old adage about the only people who don't care about money are those that have it. My husband is pretty darn good with our kids- and other people's! He is Mr. Popularity around here at parks. Probably because he's not just a kid at heart, but acts that way all the time. None of this uptight "I'm too cool to play around" stuff for him! It can be embarrassing for me, like when he rides kids toys around stores. But adorable too.



We went to a birthday party on the weekend for another international family. He was the only Japanese dad who showed. Lots of other dads there from other countries, though. See, it's normal in other countries to spend time with your kids. I don't know if it was the novelty or what, but Big Fish was completely surrounded by kids the whole time. He deftly held Cupcake on his hip while pulling around other kids and teaching them weird songs about balloons.



I'll take the embarrassing bits in stride- what I really feel is a mixture of pride and gratefulness.

Not grateful enough to pop out 4 or 5 more to make him happy though!