Not a bro Dad

[Anonymous]

Chip Gaines

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from Southern California (Orange County area) and there's definitely a type of Bro Dad here. Basically, they dress like high school surfer boys but they are in their late 30s and have two kids.

Typical SoCal Bro Dad:
-Drives a lifted 4x4 pick-up truck with a Monster Energy sticker on the back window, blasting Sublime or System of a Down
-Always sporting a Hurley baseball cap with a flat rim
-A plaid Billabong button up shirt and dark colored pants are what he wears to "dress up" for holiday cards
-Vans sneakers
-Owns a few pairs of Dickies shorts
-"Vacations" consist of going to Glamis for off-roading, camping at Pismo Beach, or heading to Big Bear to snowboard on 6 inches of man-made snow in the freestyle park
-Constantly bitches about "how crowded SoCal has become" and un-ironically throws out a bit of casual racism by blaming "the Mexicans"

I've yet to find similar Bro Dads anywhere else in the U.S. It's a bizarre combination of privilege, Peter Pan syndrome, being culturally stuck in the late 1990s.

I'm also in OC and I'm hysterically laughing! Yes all this exactly! It's crazy how many of them there are. So many in Huntington Beach especially

YEP. I have family in Socal, and when I visit it is like a BUBBLE of these dads (and moms). They don’t realize that I can see right through it, or that 95% of the country is unlike them.

And speaking of real estate ^, whatshisface from Flip or Flop is a perfect example, but him in a more specific subset perhaps?

Now, for those of us in the other 95% of the county, these dads exist but they have a different local flavor.

Here’s my experience:
-we already have a California bro dad described
-Florida: sports, working out, muscles. Clothing: super slick, good grooming
-nova: nfl, beer, making fun of people. Clothing: not fashionable. Mostly polos? Subset: golf
-Utah: uggghh among the worst bro dads. So many. VERY similar to California bro dads
-Oklahoma: grilling and/or barbecue, college football, straight money, huge house.

So, while there can be a local flavor, just generally take the above lists, and combine them, and you have bro dad.

Bro dad is more complete with hot wife, but not required as long as she is trendy.

Bro dad is way more complete when kid also wears skater/cool outfits and goes along with the cool attitude and activities.
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Great call. Bristol/Aubrey from Flip or Flop are your typical SoCal Bro Dad/Mom couple. He even has a sleeve of tattoos! Total Bro Dad

[img]https://the-hollywood-gossip-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--r_c_sq2y--/f_auto,q_auto/v1491303552/aubrey-marunde-picture.jpg[/

Lol, I was the pp. no, I was thinking about the El Moussas! Before they split/went off air. But yeah...both families are examples.

[Anonymous]

There's ways to be a jerk Bro Dad and ways to be a genuinely okay Bro Dad.

I think you might have the Tiger Parents who are obsessed with 529 plans, getting their kid j to the right college, etc. That's what is common in Greater DC. I suspect the DC Bro Dad's are mostly Frederick rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My WWII dad calls my son “buddy”, and so did my Jewish FIL and DH and none are “bros” by any stretch, and DS’s name isn’t Buddy either.

My dad always said “hey Buddy” whenever he saw one of his 5 grandsons. Not a bro grandpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chip Gaines

Yes! The King of Bro Dads

[Anonymous]

I think it is a function of where you live. I grew up and lived most of my life in a beach town (East Coast). Tons of dads there who were "bro dads" before it even became a word. Lots of Billabong, Quicksilver clothes, Vans, riding their kids on their Beachcruiser handlebars. Almost everyone had some kind of boat-so weekends drinking beer, hanging out on the water while the kids played. There was usually some kind of festival-music, oyster, crab that people hang out and congregate. the dads would go surfing and the kids would almost always have surf lessons and a skateboard. the older kids would have learned hackey-sack from their bro dads. The town where I grew up, these type of dads came from all walks of life, from lawyers to construction workers. If you were part of this lifestyle, then you all hung out together. It is a weird attractive mix between arrested development and a laid-back lifestyle. Not a lot of deep thought but somehow it worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me, the east coast version of a bro dad seems to be one that was absolutely in a frat in college, is really into the athletic prowess/success of their sons (having them sign to play D1 sports in college - or better yet, at a service academy - is their dream), is really into their man cave/sports time/cracking open a beer with the guys, and probably has the physique of someone who simultaneously works out and drinks a lot of beer. They also probably drive a pick up truck or nice SUV.

You think aspiring to a service academy makes a kid or his/her dad a bro, or is kind of douchey?

Honestly, this description -- college-educated and a former member of a frat, likes sports and encourages that pursuit in his son, enjoys socializing with friends and drinks beer -- sounds like a LOT of normal, upper middle class guys. Is that such a bad thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, the east coast version of a bro dad seems to be one that was absolutely in a frat in college, is really into the athletic prowess/success of their sons (having them sign to play D1 sports in college - or better yet, at a service academy - is their dream), is really into their man cave/sports time/cracking open a beer with the guys, and probably has the physique of someone who simultaneously works out and drinks a lot of beer. They also probably drive a pick up truck or nice SUV.

You think aspiring to a service academy makes a kid or his/her dad a bro, or is kind of douchey?

Honestly, this description -- college-educated and a former member of a frat, likes sports and encourages that pursuit in his son, enjoys socializing with friends and drinks beer -- sounds like a LOT of normal, upper middle class guys. Is that such a bad thing?

Sometimes it is, and when it is, you know it within 15 seconds of talking the guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, the east coast version of a bro dad seems to be one that was absolutely in a frat in college, is really into the athletic prowess/success of their sons (having them sign to play D1 sports in college - or better yet, at a service academy - is their dream), is really into their man cave/sports time/cracking open a beer with the guys, and probably has the physique of someone who simultaneously works out and drinks a lot of beer. They also probably drive a pick up truck or nice SUV.

You think aspiring to a service academy makes a kid or his/her dad a bro, or is kind of douchey?

Honestly, this description -- college-educated and a former member of a frat, likes sports and encourages that pursuit in his son, enjoys socializing with friends and drinks beer -- sounds like a LOT of normal, upper middle class guys. Is that such a bad thing?

Sometimes it is, and when it is, you know it within 15 seconds of talking the guy.

If that's true, and particularly if it's only sometimes true, then your characterization has not adequately defined it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, the east coast version of a bro dad seems to be one that was absolutely in a frat in college, is really into the athletic prowess/success of their sons (having them sign to play D1 sports in college - or better yet, at a service academy - is their dream), is really into their man cave/sports time/cracking open a beer with the guys, and probably has the physique of someone who simultaneously works out and drinks a lot of beer. They also probably drive a pick up truck or nice SUV.

You think aspiring to a service academy makes a kid or his/her dad a bro, or is kind of douchey?

Honestly, this description -- college-educated and a former member of a frat, likes sports and encourages that pursuit in his son, enjoys socializing with friends and drinks beer -- sounds like a LOT of normal, upper middle class guys. Is that such a bad thing?

It seems to me that it's only a bad thing if the dads treat the kids as props to call attention to themselves and their own lifestyle. If they are having fun, and their kids are thriving, then it's sour grapes to complain about them.

[Anonymous]

So now the dads are going to start stereotyping, judging, and tearing each other apart? It'd bad enough when moms do it. Lay off already. You do you. Raise your kids the best way you know how. Stop spending so much time thinking about how everyone else is doing it. There's a million ways to be a good parent and raise decent kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from Southern California (Orange County area) and there's definitely a type of Bro Dad here. Basically, they dress like high school surfer boys but they are in their late 30s and have two kids.

Typical SoCal Bro Dad:
-Drives a lifted 4x4 pick-up truck with a Monster Energy sticker on the back window, blasting Sublime or System of a Down
-Always sporting a Hurley baseball cap with a flat rim
-A plaid Billabong button up shirt and dark colored pants are what he wears to "dress up" for holiday cards
-Vans sneakers
-Owns a few pairs of Dickies shorts
-"Vacations" consist of going to Glamis for off-roading, camping at Pismo Beach, or heading to Big Bear to snowboard on 6 inches of man-made snow in the freestyle park
-Constantly bitches about "how crowded SoCal has become" and un-ironically throws out a bit of casual racism by blaming "the Mexicans"

I've yet to find similar Bro Dads anywhere else in the U.S. It's a bizarre combination of privilege, Peter Pan syndrome, being culturally stuck in the late 1990s.

I'm also in OC and I'm hysterically laughing! Yes all this exactly! It's crazy how many of them there are. So many in Huntington Beach especially

OP here:
I'm originally from Long Beach and live in DC now. SO MANY of my former high school classmates fit this profile. And yes, I spent a lot of time in Huntington Beach.

What's so funny about Bro Dads is that they have zero intellectual curiosity, yet seem to be pretty content living The Life. It's such a 180 from the East Coast mindset. For example, if I mentioned the words 'Brooks Brothers' they'd look at me funny and say "Who are the Brooks Brothers?"

Why would you walk up to a dad on, say, a nova playground and start discussing Brooks Brithers?

[Anonymous]

In my part of Arlington, a bro dad is simply a guy in a Patagonia jacjet of some sort with a well worn UVA baseball cap who repeatedly calls his kid buddy and says “good job” a lot. I can’t speak for Southern California, but I can picture it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my part of Arlington, a bro dad is simply a guy in a Patagonia jacjet of some sort with a well worn UVA baseball cap who repeatedly calls his kid buddy and says “good job” a lot. I can’t speak for Southern California, but I can picture it.

^ jacket

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What's so funny about Bro Dads is that they have zero intellectual curiosity, yet seem to be pretty content living The Life. It's such a 180 from the East Coast mindset. For example, if I mentioned the words 'Brooks Brothers' they'd look at me funny and say "Who are the Brooks Brothers?"

Why would you walk up to a dad on, say, a nova playground and start discussing Brooks Brithers?
What? Are you referring to the store? How does saying "Who are the Brooks Brothers?" show your intellectual curiosity? I'm confused.