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Dads Alone in Public With Their Children
Why is it still such a rare sight?
When I saw the father corralling his two toddlers off the jetway and into the airport, my first thought was: What happened to the mom? Did she die during childbirth? Was she afflicted with a rare disease? Did she abandon her family in the dead of the night?
I wasn’t the only traveler who seemed to be keenly interested in the set of circumstances that had led to this father traveling alone with two very small children. Other people were looking, too. Like me, they were smiling, but also looked a little confused.
I then overheard the father announcing to his children that mom was waiting outside to pick them up. As it turned out, none of my wild assumptions were accurate.
A woman I recognized from the plane, who was walking slightly ahead of me, said a few words to the father. I couldn’t hear what she said, but I could tell she was smitten.
Whenever I travel alone for work, which I do about three times a year, I tend to take notice of parents with children. I size them up with equal parts empathy and smugness. It’s fun to travel as a mom incognito, my purse clean and empty of snack refuse, a book that I will actually get to read tucked under my arm.
