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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 4 (July 1, 1935.)

Fathers' Help (?)

Fathers' Help (?)

Not that you are to blame. Fatherhood has been neglected, while the welfare of mothers is so copiously catered for that it must be great to be a mother. She has visiting nurses to advise what to do when baby swallows the scissors, lectures on the vitamins in dill water, and “mothers' helps.” But did you ever hear of fathers' helps? When he has been up all night “Walking out with Baby,” when the mortgages are due, the income-tax is imminent, and life seems just one long dull thud, can he ring up for one of the Plunket boys to come and stroke his burning brow? No, gentlemen, he cannot. Even the fire brigade is not available for burning brows. He just carries on—unstrung and unsung.

Whilst mothers are sung to the skies, fathers are talked to the earth. There are pitifully few songs about fathers, but a whole heap about mothers. The only song we can remember about fathers is a disrespectful ditty.