daddydoinwork.comAll Doyin Richards wanted to do was get his daughters ready for the day. Oh, and he also wanted to document his Mr. Mom situation to post to his Twitter and Facebook, because he runs a blog (Daddy Doin' Work) detailing his adventures as a first-time father. What happened next was typical Internet hoopla, but Richards' response to everything is what makes this story really special.
The photo is of Richards doing one of his daughter's hair in the bathroom while the other one is strapped to his chest. It's really cute, and usually the Internet loves cute stuff! The photo went viral, and sure, tons of people commented about how adorable the scene was and laughed at the random silliness that parenting brings. But since it's the Internet, the awful trolls came out, too. Richards blogged about some of the responses he got, which included things like:
"He probably rented those kids. They don't even look like him."
"OK buddy, cute picture. Now why don't you hand the children back to their mom so you can go back to selling drugs or your bootleg rap CDs?"
"So do you do this for all of your illegitimate kids?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't support a brotha who didn't marry a black woman."
"Look at this Uncle Tom. No chance he would be doing this if his kids were black."
You know, the typical terrible things that Internet commenters like to say.
So Richards took to his blog to talk about the whole firestorm in a post titled "I Have a Dream." He insists that most of the responses he gets are positive, but there are those out there who constantly look down on him and his role as a parent. Can you believe people made fun of him for this photo just because he was doing what certain folks would call "wifely duties"? To be clear, we would never call it that. But some definitely would.
"Memo to the small pocket of male haters I have: Why don't you put big boy shorts on and get in on the revolution of good fathers? It's not a good look to tear down dads for doing the work your wives wished you were man enough to do on your own," Richards wrote. "If you don't believe me, just ask your spouses. They'll tell you…I have a dream that insecure dads will spend less time hating on good dads and more time on getting their own s--t together."
Other dreams he has after dealing with the Internet's negative reaction to his photo:
• "I have a dream that people will view a man's love for fatherhood for what it is instead of thinking there's something 'fishy' going on."
• "I have a dream that people will view a picture like this and not think it's such a big deal."
We hope those dreams come true, sir. We really do. Read the full blog post here.