'It's so funny how I'm not so different from my dad' — Gen Zs talk about fatherhood

As we celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday, June 16, 2024, the generation that favours the term “toxic African parent,” born between 1997 and 2012 and known popularly as Gen Z has entered the fatherhood group chat.

At Pulse Nigeria, it was a matter of the gravest urgency to reevaluate their thinking on fatherhood now that some of them have become fathers.

Are fathers really that bad or did life put them in tight corners where they had no other option than to not show up?

See below what they had to say about fatherhood:

Before I started dating my girlfriend, I was a virgin. You could say that I loved sex a little more when we started, and one thing led to the other and she got pregnant. I almost killed myself. It felt so shameful since I was a “church boy”.

When the child was born, it was a boy, and it just felt like my whole existence was for him. The relationship might not have worked between me and his mother, but I want to make as much money as possible so I can take care of him.

I got married immediately after law school. I was just 24 years old, and then the next year, my wife was pregnant with a son.

It was so scary for me; I couldn’t believe I had become a father. I didn’t want to mess with his life, and I also had to work hard so I could provide for him. I do spank him sometimes when he acts up. I can’t fund his lifestyle and watch him misbehave.

I was still pretty young when I got a woman pregnant. Unfortunately, I didn’t get married to her, but we have a good relationship. When my daughter comes to visit me, I try to lay down the law with timeouts and occasionally spanking. It’s so funny how I’m not so different from my father.