Gee Scott: ‘I want fathers to get some respect’ on Father’s Day

As Father’s Day nears, KIRO Newsradio’s Gee Scott says he doesn’t think dads get enough respect.

“I’m tired of the disrespect. I’m tired of the people who just now realized that Father’s Day is just a few days away,” Gee said on The Gee & Ursula Show. “And there’s at least one person that said, ‘Oh, it’s Father’s Day this weekend?’ But when it’s Mother’s Day, it’s a red carpet moment.”

Gee said that on Mother’s Day, you see ads for diamonds and great restaurants. People around the office talk about their plans for Mother’s Day.

“We can’t even get our own day. Now it’s ‘Dads and Grads,'” Gee said.

Then co-host Ursula Reutin chimed in: “Do you want to fire up the grill?”

Ursula said she read an opinion piece in the Washington Post that talked about what the country needs to do when it comes to supporting fathers.

“So the first thing that they say is that it’s time to have universal parental leave and 12 weeks of it because they point out that even in states like ours, which in a way do have parental leave available to fathers, even though men are actually taking triple the leave that they were only four years ago,” Ursula said. “So it’s becoming more acceptable.”

The article said that only 20% of dads take leave they are entitled to because they are worried about losing their jobs.

It also said that people should be more aware that fathers can feel postpartum depression. “They say at least one in 10 fathers experience what we often align with mothers and postpartum,” Ursula said. “So they’re saying that doctors should make sure that men, as well as women, get the mental health screenings.”

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Gee also thinks views of men as fathers can often be antiquated.

“Men are more involved with their kids than many folks believe. They change diapers. They are part of parent-teacher conferences.”

Show producer Andrew “Chef” Lanier countered on that point.

“There’s a certain percentage of dads who are not involved. And historically, until very recently, it was normal for dads to say stuff like, ‘I don’t do diapers.’ You know, I’ve actually heard that from men in my life.”

Chef also said that dads are harder to shop for.

Gee said: “I dare some of you dads out there to say if they asked you, ‘What do you want for Father’s Day?’ Tell them you want a kitchen pass’?”

Ursula: “A what? A kitchen pass. What does that mean?”

“You don’t have to do anything in the kitchen,” Gee said. “Let’s leave it at that.”

The urban dictionary defines ‘kitchen pass’ as “Getting permission from your wife/girlfriend to go out. Example: Hey man, did you get a kitchen pass for Friday?”

By Gee’s laugh, he may think of ‘kitchen pass’ a little differently.

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.