Adventures with Barbie and how not to make friends with other dads

Several weeks ago a mother of one of my daughter’s friends reached out because she was planning a trip for a bunch of their friends to go see Barbie. My wife and I had been planning on taking my daughter nyways, so we decided to tag along and ordered tickets in the same row.

Last week, while my wife was away at a conference, my daughter asked if I could order her a Barbie shirt for the movie. I jokingly asked if we should all get wigs. Next thing you know I now have a pink flamingo button down and a Ken style wig, and daughter has a Barbie shirt and long blonde wig. My wife finds it hilarious, and we decide to cosplay at the movie with her friends.

My 13 year old daughter is not embarrassed by her father showing up to an event with her friends dressed as Ken. I promise you, that is not a common thing for her age group to be ok with.

So we get to the movie over this past weekend. It turns out all the parents came just like we did. Except, not quite like we did. You see the other dads decided to drop off their wives and daughters and then go see Oppenheimer themselves instead. (Already pissing off their wives because it’s an hour longer and now they have to wait when Barbie is done.)

And one of the husbands is completely judging my ass dressed like Ken. And to top it off his wife mentions later that they had a fight about him not joining them for Barbie. Especially because their young son went with her to see Barbie because the dads decided to see a Rated R movie.

The wife then apologizes to me, saying she didn’t think to mention that I might rather see Oppenheimer with the other dads. I comment loudly that I just love going to the movies with my family, and know how few years are left before she is an adult. I laid it on pretty damn thick. Just enough to get a mom or two to glare at their husbands.

So, I took my wife and daughter to a movie that makes fun of toxic masculinity with her friends. And the other dads decided to be an example of it. And I promise there was only one husband there that day who went home to a warm bed.