The other day, while buying a shirt, I discovered something quite distressing. As it turns out, the style of shirt I generally buy was marked in a big section with "Perfect for Dad!" written above it. Now, on one hand, there was a perk to this, as it was a sale, but on the other I had the startling realization that I am slowly approaching the age where I could, theoretically, be old enough to have kids who, in turn, are old enough to buy me shirts.
That is a far way off still, since I am a mere 25, so any potential children would be comfortingly young. While certain nephews are fast approaching the age where they can drive and get jobs, I am comforted by the fact that the siblings from which they came are (much) older than I am. Still, apparently my sense of style has reached the point where it's colliding with that of dads who are generally older than I am, especially if their children are actually in the position to go out and buy gifts and shirts.
Yet, I'm not so much distressed about getting older as I am about having the style sense of an older man. I would never pretend to be cutting edge and cool, and I don't particularly put much effort into clothing selection. I wear black pants entirely because I don't have to worry about a shirt not looking right with them - but there's still something largely disappointing about being told you have the style sense of someone who is likely significantly older than you are. Going by when close friends are having their kids, and assuming that kids have to be about 10 before they really put much effort into father's day gifts, I'm still looking at being pitched to like I'm at least 30, which remains older than I actually am.
Then again, maybe I worry too much, since things are sold as father's day gifts irregardless of what actual fathers might get out of them. Recently, I got an email pushing an iPod Touch as something that would delight dad and show how much you care. Only thing is, I know that if you're going to have enough money to buy such a device as a father's day gift, you're going to have a dad about the same age as my own. While I won't speak to the technological prowess of every father in the world, I do know that, if given such a device, my dad would, at best, wonder what he would do with it. Then it would sit in a drawer, or be given to a grand kid because nobody was using it. Certainly, there are fathers out there which could use such a thing, but it always seems strange to me, especially if I consider my own parents for reference.
Still, even if I'm getting advertised to as a potential father, maybe it's time I realized that I am at the age where people start having kids and planning families, even if I have no intention of joining in the baby parade myself. Of my friends, steadily increasing numbers either have kids, are planning to have kids, or have one that is a few months away from making its first appearance in the world. Even if I have no plans of having a kid myself, the number of dads in my age group is going to be getting larger as the years go on.
So really, being marketed to as a dad is just going to get worse as I age, and it's time I realized that it won't be very long until there's something very age appropriate about buying a shirt that's perfect for dad. That said, I don't completely want to admit it, and I fully intend to be annoyed by those signs even if I have kids who are giving me shirts every June.
