Pledge to Be a Better Dad this Father’s Day

Del. Jon S. Cardin (D-11th) is shown here with his wife, Megan, and their two daughters, Dorothy Maya and Micah Honor. (File photo)

In recent years, we dads have all tried to assume more responsibility and focus more on the needs of our families before our own.

And yet on these days just before Father’s Day, the following four ideas may help inspire a few dads to make our community a better place:

1. Support Moms

Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement founded in response to the devastating 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct., quickly flourished into a leading force for gun violence prevention, with chapters in all 50 states and a powerful network of moms.

Dads need to support the moms.

Common-sense solutions can help decrease the escalating epidemic of gun violence that kills too many of our children and loved ones every day. Whether the gun violence happens in urban Baltimore, suburban Havre de Grace or rural Frederick, dads helping moms supporting new and stronger gun laws will protect our children.

Seven American children or teens are shot and killed every day. So our vision of a community where children and families are safe from gun violence must include education, motivation and mobilization to realize stronger laws that save lives.

Dads no longer can stand on the sidelines and let elected officials, corporate leaders and other influential voices turn their backs.

2. Act Against Cyberbullying

Six years ago, Judge Katie O’Malley introduced me to Christine McComas, the mother of Grace, her witty and happy Howard County teenager. But Grace was being bullied online. Every time she opened Facebook, she was terrified by a schoolmate who was threatening her with violence, rape and humiliation.

Tragically, Grace eventually took her own life to escape what seemed to be an unbearable reality emerging from the digital world.

No one deserves to be treated the way Grace was. In 2014, I wrote Grace’s Law, the toughest anti-cyberbullying legislation at that time in the country. Since then, the extraordinary growth of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have given cyberbullying the oxygen it needs to spread like a malicious virus.

Sen. Bobby Zirkin recently took the lead to modernize our law and once again make it a standard that the rest of the nation can follow.

But don’t kid yourselves, the Internet will keep advancing, and we need to stay ahead of the curve.

3. Stop Revenge Porn

Revenge porn — or revealing/sexually explicit images or videos posted on the Internet for malicious purposes — is antithetical to a civilized society. Example: your daughter’s boyfriend, upset that she broke up with him, posts a compromising picture of her taken in a private moment of passion.

Revenge porn has a particular impact on young girls. Victimized as teenagers, these daughters will have difficulty in college and a worse time getting a job. Note the powerlessness in preventing college admissions officers and employers from doing a simple Google search that turns up these old but damaging images.

Years later, when the victim’s 10-year-old daughter searches her name, the pain, humiliation and uncertainty resurfaces. Predators exploiting our girls without consequence is unacceptable.

Dads, let’s use our technology to improve our daughters’ lives, not damage them.

4. Clean Our Waters

To think that climate change, chemicals and pesticides will significantly alter the lives and health of our children is very depressing. Every child deserves to drink clean water and enjoy the outdoors.

A few simple and fun things can make a difference:

  • Install a rain barrel. Rain barrels reduce flooding in yards and basements, reduce water and sewage bills, and will absorb slowly into the ground, which replenishes the groundwater supplies and increases water resources.
  • Create a rain garden. Use low areas in your yard to plant native vegetation, which allows water to infiltrate naturally into the ground rather than run off into the storm drainage.
  • Participate in river and stream cleanups. Organizations such as Clean Water Action organize cleanups each season with communities across the watersheds.
  • Go organic. Planting organic and native plants can help increase our pollinator population and provide fresh food for families, all while reducing polluted runoff to the local waterways.
  • Lobby your legislators and stay informed.

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there.

A Baltimore native, Del. Jon S. Cardin (D-11th) and his wife, Megan, have two daughters, Dorothy Maya, 8, and Micah Honor, 6. The family lives in Owings Mills and attends Beth Tfiloh Congregation.

You May Also Like
Dr. Scott Rifkin: The Dilemma for Jews
Joe Biden

When it comes to concern that President Biden's support for Israel is wavering, look at actions not words, writes Jmore Publisher Scott Rifkin M.D.

A New Era for the O’s
Jackson Holliday

Even the great "Earl of Baltimore," Earl Weaver, never had a lineup with as much raw talent as the 2024 Orioles team, writes Michael Olesker.

Praying for the Hostages in Gaza and the ‘Whole House of Israel’
livestream of the Shema broadcast from the Western Wall

The Acheinu prayer reminds us that the deeper we go into the experience of those suffering, the more fervently we will pray for their speedy redemption, writes Rabbi Dr. Eli Yoggev.

Global Village
Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg talks to the Beth Am audience before playing his guitar. (Photo by Jim Burger)

Despite technological strides, human beings still need to interact and be in close proximity to each other, writes Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg.