Fatherhood can be both beautiful and intimidating, and while some shy away from the responsibilities of this role, there are those who man up to become the person their children need.

With Father’s Day just a few days away, Our Today sheds light on the makings of a father as told by popular Jamaican personalities who sat for chats on Odyssey with Yendi.

Fatherhood should be saying love and showing love

With the over-exhausted stigma of homosexuality attached to intimate male-to-male relations, it has become quite uncommon for fathers to have overly physical and verbal affectionate relationships with their sons.

Musician and social media personality Wayne Mitchell, popularly known as Wayne Marshall, who is father to four boys, did not receive the affection he wanted from his dad, but ensured that would not be his narrative as a father.

“My father wasn’t necessarily the touchy-feely, hug up, I love you, kiss pan cheek you know, he wasn’t that type of a father and I guess that is attributed to the typical Jamaica that he was from,” he shared.

“For me is not something that I do to kinda change a narrative. It’s something that just resonates with me. Like I feel like I need to be that father to my children. Its my boys, it’s my boys, and they need love and they need attention,” he added.

“In my technique of fathering or parenting I just feel like showing it saying it, it’s just the full-on… I mean, throw everything on the kitchen sink at the kids them, just so that they know they have a safe place in me and Tami at all times.”

Fatherhood changes you

If one thing is for sure, knowing that you brought another human being into the world impacts you, whether in a minor or major way.

Once you have realised you are responsible for this little human being, things can take 180 degree turn.

In the words of businessman Romeich Major, “Fatherhood change me whole heap inuh, and it aguh change me more cuz me have a daughter pan the way.”

The designer, whose real name is Rudolph Brown, noted that becoming a father transforms you into a man.

“When I got him [Xzander], that really turn me inah a man… mi just tell me self seh whatever I couldn’t have back then… mi affi just work hard and mek sure me son can good,” he shared.

Fatherhood brings you joy and stress

Parenthood is no easy feat, and although children can bring you joy, taking responsibility for a whole other human life can be pressuring.

Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt, though a star on the track, faces the pressure of parenthood, like any other father.

Recounting his first week as a parent, the former sprinter shared that his experience made him feel as if he were “dead”, and soon after, he hired a nurse to assist with his first born.

When asked if fatherhood was what he expected, he replied: “It brings joy and stress at the same time, so for me no. Definitely not [what he expected].”

Fatherhood is a learning process

“So I was very deliberate about, trying to learn my role as a father, because that’s the thing, people feel like yuh get a yute and then all of a sudden them come with a manual and yuh know what is what. It’s a learning [process] just the same,” Agent Sasco shared.

Though you may grow up observing your father and observing the fathers of your friends, that never fully prepares you for what’s ahead.

You may be convinced you know parenting/fathering 101, but all your knowledge will not always apply, and parenting more often than not, means learning as you go.

“I accepted that I had to learn and that I wanted to learn and I knew the kinda of parent that I wanted to be.”