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January 13, 2014

Dad Experiences Shocking Responses After Posting This Picture on Facebook.

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My husband does our daughter’s hair all the time—and he always does a better job than I do.

Given this, I was absolutely astonished when I came across this story from blogger, and dad, Doyin Richards.

Richards went from blogger to internet sensation almost overnight after this picture of him fixing his daughter’s hair went viral.

I know…shocking.

So you can probably imagine Richards’ surprise when his picture became insanely popular and how that surprise then turned into bewilderment when he began receiving hate-mail galore.

In his blog I Have A Dream That People Will View a Picture Like This and Not Think It’s a Big Deal he wrote:

“One morning last week, my MDW (Mommy Doin’ Work) was running late for work and was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get DDW1′s (Daughter Doin’ Work) hair done before I had to take her to school. I told her that she could leave and I’d handle it. She countered by saying that doing her hair requires attention and the baby would get upset if I left her alone while I played the role of stylist. Again, I told her that I’d handle it. On the way out she said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

That’s when I put DDW2 in the Ergo, stood DDW1 on a stool and worked my hair magic. During the process, I thought, There’s no way my wife will believe me if I don’t take a picture of this. That’s when I set my camera up, put it on a 10-second timer, and took the photo you’re about to see. After 15 minutes of multitasking, the final result was a nice, tight ponytail for big sister and a happily sleeping baby in the carrier. Mission accomplished. I emailed the photo to her with the caption “Boom.” and we both got a good laugh out of it.

Little did I know how interesting things were about to become.”

Because Richards is merely a self-professed daddy doin’ work—this dad’s work suddenly became a lot more interesting.

Here is a minor taste of some of the private messages and comments that his picture inspired:

“On the flip side, there’s a small pocket of men out there that can’t stand me. Here’s a sampling of some of the private messages and comments I received from them after I posted this picture:

– “He probably rented those kids. They don’t even look like him.”

– “I would bet anything that you’re a deadbeat.”

– “OK buddy, cute picture. Now why don’t you hand the children back to their mom so you can go back to selling drugs or your bootleg rap CDs?”

– “So do you do this for all of your illegitimate kids?”

You get the idea.”

Wow. Just. Wow.

In this video clip—that his since gone viral as well—Richards explains the story behind his now-famous photograph.

And his situation hits home for many families.

My own sister has mixed-race children—and I can’t believe that we recently entered 2014 and this type of feedback is not only acceptable, but happening at all.

This is not okay. Period. Instead, we need to focus on teaching our kids love and acceptance.

(And a daddy doing his little girl’s hair is nothing short of stellar.)

After all,  my child’s favorite television show is more open-minded.

My daughter is obsessed with Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (a not-talked-about-often-enough spin off of Mr. Rogers), and this show is constantly showing interracial families—not a little sprinkling here and there that makes it more obvious or at an overwhelming amount because the show isn’t about this.

Actually, do we all remember Lady Elaine—that creepy, bobbing headed puppet with that bad hair cut (that my sister-in-law says is always drunk)?

Because this is her family on Daniel Tiger:

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While Richards shares within his blog a dream for a world that doesn’t react this way to a simple family picture, he also didn’t let all of this attention stop him from doing what he does best either.

Richards signed off his now hit-article with this:

“On a side note, I wrote this entire post while my baby girl was sleeping on me in the Ergo. It’s not a big deal. That’s just what a Daddy Doin’ Work is supposed to do.

Boom.”

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

 

 

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