The Right Sort of Daddy Issues

Fathers' Day has always been more about quiet appreciation than applause and attention. If there's any defining characteristic of the American Fathers' Day, it's been relaxation. Dads are expected and encouraged to take it easy and enjoy a well-deserved day off. While that's certainly a concept I can get behind, this week's Blawg Review #217 host, Thomas Colson of the Securing Innovation blog, suggests that it can be something more.

Much as other holidays (the Martin Luther King holiday comes to mind) have of late become days to accomplish something in the spirit of the holiday rather than days of leisure, he describes how he uses Fathers' Day to improve himself as a father: "I made the decision to become more than a good father. I decided to become a great father to my children. I decided to become a mentor, life coach, and ally, providing them with tools and skills necessary to meet life’s challenges. And since I believe that success has a lot to do with planning, I decided to use Father's Day as my planning day. Since then, I have invested a few hours every Fathers’ Day building my Fatherhood Plan for the upcoming year; setting goals, tactical plans, and reviewing my successes from the previous year."

His planning has produced a series of children's books, a family of Mandarin Chinese speakers, and now a public speaking program for children. My Fathers' Day produced a neatly-cut lawn, a poorly-caulked shower, and a daughter who has mastered the first three levels of Monsters vs. Aliens on the Wii. Needless to say, I feel much shame.

Colson's post starts by reminding us of another recent Blawg Review, #209 hosted by John Hochfeder at his New York Injury Cases blog, which was a touching tribute to his father. From there, highlights include the "infinite" and possibly unconstitutional nature of the damages in the Jammie Thomas case, the pointlessness of British "anti-stab" knives, and a damaging ruling in the U.K. for anonymous bloggers ably covered by anonymous/psudonymous legal bloggers.

Adrian Dayton will host the next edition of Blawg Review at his Marketing Strategy and the Law blog next Monday.