Fatherhood isn’t easy, with its fair share of late nights, dirty diapers, toddler tantrums, and teenage angst. However, some dads make it look like a walk in the park (and no, we don’t mean Jurassic Park). Here are some utterly cool dads whom we look up to.
Will Smith
Will Smith isn’t just a fantastic Genie: the Aladdin star is also a certified cool dad to Willow and Jaden, his children with Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Trey, his son with his first wife, Sheree Zampino.
“We respect our children the way we would respect any other person,” said Will in an interview with Haute Living. “Things like cleaning up their room. You would never tell a full-grown adult to clean their room, so we don’t tell our kids to clean their rooms. Actually, we tell our kids ‘you don’t have a room, that’s our room and we are letting you borrow it.’”
David Beckham
David Beckham, the more handsome half of the power couple known as Posh and Becks, juggles a successful football career, multiple endorsements and events, and fatherhood with much aplomb. It wasn’t easy, though.
“I didn’t want to miss a second, but of course there were times that I couldn’t be there. I feared they would do something for the first time and I wouldn’t be there to see it,” he wrote in an essay for Men’s Health. “I knew that spending as much quality time with my kids as I could, especially when they were young, was the most important thing in the world…I also realized pretty quickly, that there are never enough hours in the day to do all the things we want to do with our kids so as long as we make whatever the time available to us quality time, where we are present, as dads we’re winning.”
Gordon Ramsay
The Hell’s Kitchen host may be terrifying towards adults who are hopelessly inept in the kitchen, but he’s quite a softie when it comes to kids. You can see Gordon’s tender side on Masterchef Junior, where he mentors young kitchen geniuses, as well as on Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch, where he banters with his cheeky children. He has also been very vocal about keeping his kids grounded despite his family’s fame.
In an article on The Telegraph, the top chef explains that his younger years were rough, and that he worked very hard so that his kids wouldn’t go through the same thing. “They have a completely different life than I did growing up. I worked [very hard] to get out of the mess that I grew up in and they’re grateful, they’re not spoilt.”
Prince William
Prince William’s children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, inspire him to do everything he can to make the world a better place.
“I worry about the future more,” he says when asked about how fatherhood changed his life in an article on Vanity Fair. “When you have something or someone in your life to give the future to, I think it focuses the mind more about what you’re giving them, and are you happy that you’ve done all you can to leave it in a good state.”
Barack Obama
What’s better than being the 44th President of the United States of America? For Barack Obama, it’s spending time with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. This is a hands-on dad who, despite occupying the most powerful position in the world, still coached Sasha’s grammar school basketball team and took the time to have a proper dinner with his family five times a week.
“It is in my capacities as a husband and a father that I entertain the most doubt,” Pres. Obama confesses in a Washington Post article. “I am a black man who grew up without a father, and I know the cost that I paid for that…And I also know that I have the capacity to break that cycle, and as a consequence, I think my daughters are better off.”
This Father’s Day, make sure to let the fathers in your life know just how much they mean to you by reminding them of your most treasured moments together. Place your favorite photos on a Nixplay Frame, and give it to dad–he’ll be in for a sweet surprise. Plus, we’re making it even sweeter: Get up to 25% off Nixplay and NIX frames, only until June 16!
Will Smith image via Wikimedia.
