Drew Arellano, GP Reyes, more dads share their ‘worst day’ as a father

Parenthood in some ways turns the worst of us into bona fide heroes. There's no shortage of stories of mothers and fathers who made tremendous sacrifices for their children, pulling off feats that are seemingly impossible...but we all know that even Wonder Woman and Batman have bad days.

And just like Batman, we recognize on this special day that fathers are human, too. They're sometimes super, but parenting isn't called the "most rewarding but hardest job" for nothing.

GMA News Online spoke with five dads and asked them to share days when, despite their best, they felt like they weren't fit to drink from the "Best Dad" mug.

It should be said that despite mistakes, these dads continue to do their best for their kids. All five are committed to providing a loving environment for their children and are definitely among the world's greatest!

Drew Arellano with his son Primo. Photo: drewarellano / Intsagram.

Drew Arellano: The day Primo didn't recognize me

Whenever I come home, I’d make a sound—like a shout or a bark—so Primo will know I’m there.

A few months ago, I had a series of work-related travels. I was gone two weeks, direcho. When I came home, I did my sound again, but he had a blank look, like “who the hell is this guy?” He didn’t recognize me!

It got me to post pa nga on IG, “who wants my job?”

I felt so bad, I felt like, this [shouldn't] be happening. Because you know, even before my on-cam work, I knew that family is the priority. I knew that work shouldn’t be the priority. It was always family. I guess at that point, I had already reached my saturation point. I was so tired and everything and gan'on [ang] reaction niya.

Drew Arellano, husband to Iya Villania, is the host of "Biyahe ni Drew" and is sometimes away from home for long periods of time. Getting paid to travel seems fun, but when you're a dad, it means time away from your kids.

Kiddo Cossio and his family. Photo: kiddocosio (IG)

Kiddo Cosio: Sh*t happens

It was a literal shit storm at a McDonald's here in La Union. We try not to eat too much fast food, but it was one of those days that had me and Amy running around at work and around town on errands, aside from our being hands-on parents with no helpers.

Fast food was a welcome respite on that busy day... or so we thought!

Midway through the meal, Adam, our two-year-old, took a poop in his pants while walking to the restroom. Cadence stepped in the poop and had it smeared all over her legs, and our dog Rufio snuck into the McDonald's and began eating the poop — all while the other diners watched, shaking their heads.

"Did all that crap really come from my toddler?" I thought. It seemed like there was so much! I rushed to the hand wash area, where the soap dispenser broke off the wall as I was using it, unloading half a liter of soap onto the floor; so I began sliding around, while trying to clean Adam up.

We finally made our way back to our sun-baked van, smelling of poop and fast food — not our finest hour!

Kiddo Cosio, owner of El Union Café in La Union, lists husband and dad as his main occupation on his Instagram profile. This surfer knows how to chill, but sometimes, fatherhood can get literally crappy. Still, Cosio told GMA News Online that come what may — even if sh*t hits the fan  — they want to teach their kids to value the "now" and keep exploring.

Zig Rabara: Every time I have to leave my daughter

Worst siguro 'yong not being able to spend enough time with [my wife and daughter], like when I have successive work trips and gig trips. Like flying home from a work trip in Mindanao and heading straight to a gig in Laguna or Cavite.

I would literally just have enough time to switch bags at home. Awit has actually learned to say, "Tatay, you're leaving AGAIN?!"

It's always a struggle but it happens more often now, [especially] with [Ang Bandang] Shirley getting more gigs and my day job becoming more demanding.

Zig Rabara, drummer for The Purplechickens and Ang Bandang Shirley, loves spoiling his daughter Awit like crazy. He told GMA News Online that he does his best, but admits that he sometimes fall short — which makes him appreciate his wife Louay more.

GP Reyes and his princess, Olivia. Photo: gp_reyes / Instagram.

GP Reyes: The worst fall

A week before her first birthday, we had the greatest scare ever. 

Andi and I were on our way to lunch at Polo Club, just us 3 with Olivia. In the parking lot as we were about to disembark, Olivia then unbuckled from her child safety seat, was so excited to get out that she stood on the seat and just as I opened car door to where she was, she excitedly jumped out and basically somersaulted onto the asphalt!

The car I was driving then was a pretty high riding SUV and if you were there you would've seen what looked to be a terrifying fall and what could've been a horrific accident!

We rushed her to St. Luke's, did all the test for any broken bones, concussions, or what not. Apparently, with much praise to our Lord, babies are more resilient than you think and she escaped with only a few scratches and bruises.

But I will never forget the nightmare of that incident and more so the nightmare of being in the emergency room with her crying, my wife crying, as the doctor was checking her.

The best day of my life — apart from my wedding day — really was the day my daughter was born. It was in that moment when I first held my little princess in my arms in the delivery room, that I felt the purest kind of love and joy anyone can ever feel. The moment you truly cease to live only for yourself and realize you would do anything, and sacrifice even yourself to protect this little human being that you cradled in your arms. 

When such an accident happens, it's the opposite of that feeling. The world felt as if it was gonna come crashing down on me. And while I know I won't be able to protect her from every harmful thing that may come her way I sure as hell will try.

GP Reyes, creative director and club owner, continues to be committed to being the best father to Olivia and to protect her from harm. Filed under harm are bad boyfriends.

Angelo Suarez: Giving into shame and keeping a secret

The longest day I’ve had as a dad was so long it lasted months. In the wake of a separation from a previous relationship whence my firstborn emerged, I found it extremely difficult to tell family I was about to have a second son.

I was a coward—but I could only imagine what my partner saw me as, considering the pain of knowing I was keeping our child a secret. An unplanned first child underscored whatever financial insecurity I already knew I was in; an unplanned second child was, to my mind, only going to exacerbate it.

I felt irresponsible being party to bringing two children I wasn’t prepared for into the world, my mind held hostage by the liberal bourgeois lie that economic turmoil, which included costs for childcare, was a personal responsibility instead of a social one. But even then I knew of the state as an instrument of the elite to pass on the burden of poverty on us for their efficient accumulation of capital; a member of the salaried petit-bourgeoisie, I was torn between the proletarian acknowledgement our financial incapacities to be good fathers had structural inequality at their root—proven by the state’s lack of services for childcare, for instance—and the liberal bourgeois gesture of fessing up to contributing to overpopulation.

But fact is, overpopulation is a problem only insofar as the state resists the redistribution of wealth and turns its back on the reality that birth control as a matter of social justice has nothing to do with poverty and everything to do with women’s health. I was ashamed of being a father not because I was simply irresponsible, but because imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism constructed my shame.

The moment my firstborn met my secondborn in person, I understood what I had to do: become part, in one way or another, of the movement that abolished these three social, even humanitarian, disasters.

I will never be able to erase the long period I kept my secondborn a secret, but by joining and supporting the struggle for national democracy with a socialist perspective, I knew I could somehow make amends, and help other parents understand their shame was constructed for them by the bourgeoisie in power. For the mean time I will post about my children as often as I can on social media, hoping to make reparations.

Angelo Suarez is a Palanca-winning writer and a vocal activist. He is often seen in rallies, with his children in tow, fighting different systems of oppression. — LA / AT, GMA News