Father’s Day in France: Two Teens Who Think Their Dads Are Cool

Father’s Day in France: Two Teens Who Think Their Dads Are Cool

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Father’s Day, or la Fête des Pères, in France is this coming Sunday, June 19th, so we asked two of our young contributors to tell us what makes their relationship with their papas special and how they plan to spend the day…

Sam Szraga

17-year-old student at Balzac International High School, Paris

Father's Day
Sam and father, Patrick. Photo courtesy of author

 

The bond between father and son, like the bond between father and daughter, is extraordinary. Men understand each other, and throughout our childhood, adolescence and then manhood, sharing common experiences creates a feeling of great comprehension and bonding. This is why a father and a son must talk to each other, debate, or simply watch a movie or the game for the sake of being guys once in a while.

Because, even if you love your mother with all your heart, there are moments when you need to communicate with someone that will understand exactly what you are going through, or simply times when you need a change of atmosphere.

For example, my mom is a little stressed out at times and will plan out everything to do during the day. Whereas my dad is more laid back and takes things as they come, savoring the moment a bit more. This makes for a good change of pace!

Father's Day
Sam and his father. Photo courtesy of author.

 

My dad likes cars, sports in general, a clean house and good food. Therefore, before I think about what gift to get him for Father’s Day, I will think about how I will make his day as positive as possible. This means telling him “Happy Father’s Day” when I see him, maybe make him some pancakes (as he is the one who usually makes them). I’ll even clean my room and do dishes so that there will be no frustration that day, only pride. Then, after a meal with my grandfather, Dad and I might sit down and relax and watch a Formula One Race. To end the day, I will cook up a nice dinner of his choice.

That is how I plan to spend Father’s Day.


Julia Brahy

14-year-old student at SIS International Middle School, Sèvres

Father's Day
Julia and her father Pierre Brahy in 2001. Photo courtesy of author

 

My father is, without a doubt, one of the funniest, caring, and intelligent people I know. I often think he was born to be a dad, with his soft voice and pink cheeks that always make me smile. I especially love his eyes, as both have a different color. His left eye is a murky pale green whereas his right eye is plain brown. My family and I used to joke about this, saying that the green eye was the good side of my Dad and the brown eye was the bad side. Looking at them now, it’s more or less the opposite since the green eye is actually creepier.

When I think about my dad, I mainly think about his love of music. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I vividly remember him listening to strange music on our CD player: it had bizarre, distorted sounds at the beginning of the track. One of them had the noise of a cashier; another had the sound of a helicopter or a train. At the time, I didn’t like that music, but I was still curious to see who had created it. He told me they were songs from Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” album. I told him to stop playing them and even covered my ears to show my quote-unquote suffering. However, there were some songs I actually did like. For instance, “Another Brick in the Wall” really stuck with me.

Father's day
Julia and her father in 2016. Photo courtesy of author.

 

A few years later, I decided to try listening to other Pink Floyd songs. Not only did I discover more of “The Dark Side of the Moon”, I also began listening to other albums too, “Wish You Were Here” being my favorite. Soon afterwards, I began listening to more music from my dad’s era, the 1970’s and 1980’s, such as Led Zeppelin, Guns n’Roses, Queen, and David Bowie.

I am so grateful that my Father has given me the opportunity to listen to such good music which, in my opinion, is much better than the music of my generation. I’m also very happy that he is not the kind of dad who wants his children to be like everyone else.

He doesn’t care if his son hates football. He wants my brother to play music like him. (My Dad plays the flute very well).

He also doesn’t care that I want to study literature and do a Bac L, while most kids are pursuing math and sciences with a Bac S or ES. Although he studied to be an engineer, he loves literature and philosophy and is happy I’m interested in those things.

For Father’s Day, we plan on spending the day squashed on the couch together listening to music on the new hi-fi stereo system he got. Maybe we’ll even find some new music we both like. If not, we’ll listen to some more Pink Floyd.

Bonne Fête, Papa!

2 COMMENTS

  1. Hi,
    It was my mom who reminded ME what day it was ! Made dinner instead…I think he enjoyed it, especially as we were able to watch the football together after !

  2. Sam, I like your Fathers Day approach. It does not take much to make this a special day for me. Like you planned, acknowledge the day for me, gift me with a compliment, something positive about my well meaning parenting style, or lack thereof, and forget the bogus chores, just hang out with me long enough for a chuckle or two, , maybe over breakfast that I just made for you. Oh bonus, remind your mama what day it is….

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