With Father’s Day around the corner, we approach this holiday with the biggest question on everyone’s mind: what do you buy your Dad?
Whether they know they have it, or it’s buried somewhere in their garage, we all know Dads already have everything. Since many people find Dads the hardest people to shop for, we sat down with a couple Millennial Dads to learn more about their careers, their kids, and what they really want for Father’s Day this year.
Outside of being a dad, what do you do for work?
Brendan S.: I work in a third generation family business. We have a dealership, a rental company, and a national leasing company, and I am the Vice President across all divisions and companies within the group.
Ryan B.: I’m one of the owners of Brooklynn Bar; it will have been around 9 years next month. A lot of the time people say you own a bar and have kids? You’re crazy. Sometimes I think I am, but next year I have both my kids in school, and for the last 5 years I’ve been able to do daddy day care all day so it’s been a great 5 years with this schedule.
Paul B.: I’m a senior product manager for Auto Trader so I clean and maintain some of the digital products that are on their website. If you’re shopping for a cars, a lot of the digital products are ones I have created.
What’s one of your favourite memories with your kid(s)?
Brendan S.: I travel quite a bit for business and Felicia’s mother was in town helping her, and she sent me a video of his first word which was Dada, so that was pretty special. And also between Felicia and I, it’s always a nice little competitive game. But it’s more so the day-to-day and when his face lights up because he’s so happy to see you.
Ryan B.: When Hank was learning how to speak, my wife Shelley would call me Ry, like Ry can you grab this, and so he would call me “Ry-Dada”. When we look back now, he’s almost six, he thinks that’s hilarious.
With Coco, she didn’t really know that “daddy works” because she would be in bed. She came into our bed one night and completely lost it that I wasn’t there, asking “where’s daddy” when I was at the bar. We have some delivery days where I am gone during the day and I’d come home, and right when she was three and a half and really starting to motor, she would jump off the stairs to me. You can’t really explain that hug and love until you go through it – it melts you.
Paul B.: Recently, we just came back from Florida so we had about 10 straight days of going to the pool and going to the beach. It was just the three of us that were constantly in the water so that was about 10 days of memories there, non-stop swimming and playing games and not having to worry about work or anything else.
For the ultimate question: what does a Millennial Dad really want for Father’s Day?
Brendan S.: I don’t know if this will be my final answer but it’s my immediate thought … we’re going on a long trip, and maybe someone to help us, like a nanny, so it’s not so stressful travelling with William. Sometimes it’s a lot with the career and everything else, and I’d love a little more help so Felicia and I could do things together as a couple. Other things that would be a nice are a lunch out together or a nice photo.
Ryan B.: Coco does two days a week at her preschool and they’re very cute, they’re on top of Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. She made me a card and it was a picture of my head and her head and it said “Coco loves Daddy”. She also made me what she called a “trinky-dink”. They put her hand on some gel material and it shrinks down to 3 inches to be a keychain, and it says Coco and the date and it’s her handprint. Right now, I might be a little bit biased, but I thought that was pretty sweet. All I asked for was black socks, so my wife thought I was insane. I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t really need anything. I love my Jeep and I’m always working on the truck, so if there’s a gift card to a local Jeep place that would make me pretty happy. Last year, we went to Legoland and had a fun day as a family and that’s a good gift for me – just being able to relax and enjoy a day off with the whole crew.
Paul B.: Anything that is a gadget is always kind of cool, but I actually think I’m so far into gadgets that I actually don’t want to receive them, I want to go buy them myself. Tools are always good. I’m not the handiest one, but I always love having tools. I like cars and sports, so sports memorabilia or anything car related – practical things. On the flip side, even going for a nice dinner or going for brunch is also good. It’s simple and you can’t go wrong with good food.
There you have it – right out of the mouths of Millennial Dads themselves. It turns out Dads aren’t so hard to shop for: something practical or memorable is all you need if you want to give the Millennial Dad in your life something to smile about this Father’s Day.