I was brought up in an asian country, Malaysia to both asian parents. So naturally, I am also cultivated in an environment where the father is the sole breadwinner where the mother takes care of household matters.

The portrayal of asian father in our culture relies heavily on the survival of their family, bringing bread to the table, with little regards to anything else. This means that any sign of weakness was not welcomed at all, which translates into showing less emotion. This is the asian cultural definition of asian father, masculinity; or some say ego.

While this certainly is not an issue provided that every households are the same; but issues arise when there scale is not balanced. What happens is that with globalization, the cultural differences is almost non-existent given the assimilation of people from different background.

What was so common suddenly became no longer so; for every father is every household is not bound to the same cultural stereotypes anymore. The scale is then tipped heavily to one side when some fathers shower their children with much affection; while the others hardly look them in the eye at all. The difference in value often led their children to misunderstand their father as uncaring and cold, to the extent of resentment.

The way I see it, households already affected by this will hardly undergo any changes given how the father is so used to masculinity while the children is to resentment.

The change will have to come from you.

Our dad has been struggling and you can not imagine the stress he went through. It is going to be really hard to start making changes now, much less if you don't even begin now.

Talk to him today.

I Did It, Pa

Don't forget mum too.