Tom Briggs, award-winning UK blogger Diary of the Dad, tells us how he deserves to be loved and pampered this Father's Day.

My name’s Tom and I’m the proud dad of two little boys. I’ve been blogging about my adventures in parenting since shortly after my older son was born and haven’t looked back. Almost four years later, one thing I’ve learned is that, if you’re a blogger who also happens to be a dad, this is your time. Yes, I’m talking about the countdown to Father’s Day!

Last year, I was asked to participate in a conversation on a radio show about Father’s Day. It was supposed to be a fairly light-hearted kind of thing, but I soon found myself defending dads’ right to be acknowledged by their families! Unknown to me, I wasn’t the only guest and I had to go on immediately after a journalist – who fancied himself as a bit of a comedian – and laid into the whole idea, dismissing it as a cynical money-making opportunity. I’ll admit that he was funny, but to say that I felt ambushed would be a little bit of an understatement!

So, having expected to just talk about a typical Father’s Day in our household, I was actually there to defend its honour on behalf of dads everywhere. I think I just about did the job and the abrupt nature of it certainly focussed my thinking on the issue – too right we deserve recognition!

Nobody would ever dare suggest that Mother’s Day is a frivolous date in the calendar that’s more motivated by card sales than love for our mums, so why dismiss it as such for dads? Last time I checked, you can’t make a baby without a man and every dad I know takes their role as a father seriously. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we all take our parents for granted, so is a designated day each year to thank them for all they do for us and let them know how much we love and value them important? Abso-blooming-lutely!

I’ll be getting my old man a gift and card as a small token of my appreciation for everything he continues to do for me and am looking forward to embarrassing him by telling him what a top bloke he is and how I want to be like him when I grow up. I know that my sons – with a bit of help from my wife as they’re still little – will want to do likewise. And who am I to stand in the way of that?

Check out Tom's musings about parenthood at Diary of the Dad

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