The late ESPN broadcaster—and father of two girls—Stuart Scott, was once sitting in a restaurant with some friends and their respective children. It was one of those delightful, idyllic scenes. Everyone was having fun. The kids were behaving. The dads were present. Everyone was bonding. All was well.
Then a well-meaning mom walked by and, recognizing Scott, tried to pay him a compliment for “babysitting the kids.” She did not realize how insulting this was to Scott—and in fact to all fathers. Because dads don’t babysit their kids.
Babysitting is something somebody else does for your children on your behalf, usually for money. By definition, the babysitter is not the child’s parent. These were Scott’s kids. He couldn’t babysit on his own behalf, even if he wanted to. It’d be like calling a homeowner a security guard every time you see them lock their front door.
Scott was doing his job. He was being a dad. No more, but certainly no less. As his friend would observe after Scott’s tragic death from cancer, “We didn’t see ourselves as an occasional parental figure who might take the kids off mom’s hands for a couple hours.”
See what you do as important. Because it is.