Performative dads
Is this an irrational annoyance? Living in SELondon in an area with a lot of professionals having children in their early 40s I am overwhelmed with the amount of performative dads at my baby’s nursery. They arrive at drop off either in a suit or full running/cycling gear, loud voice, no acknowledgment of anyone around them but primed for a full world best dad performance. Peppered with plenty of “ok buddy”s and “little man”s, dramatic high fives and asking their child questions enthusiastically while barely looking at them and not acknowledging the response. You can see they’re full of impatience but have turned on the switch and their child looks almost confused by this. Is it competitive? Or out of self consciousness/guilt? I’m not sure why it irks me so much, maybe because the performance dominates and there’s no room for social niceties between parents? Has anyone else noticed this behaviour?