#julio spring

it's an addams spring!

the springs decided to get creative with their family portrait ;)

bonus (and template) under the cut

🗡🗡🗡

I have Feelings about Charlie’s dad. When Julio hugs Charlie in the car after Harry’s party? “It’s okay, I’ve got you.” Oh my god I needed that kind of parental sentiment so much when I was Charlie’s age. The times he drops Charlie off and reminds him that Charlie can always call him? So good.

In some ways Julio is a lot like my dad (nobody say daddy issues, I'm fully aware). His “background parent” role, leaving Jane to bear the brunt of the parenting choices and pressures, is so common for hetero couples still. But what makes Julio Spring different from a lot of dads (not just those born in the 50s like mine) is the way he offers these consistent, overt signs of love and care. He reaches out to Charlie, he openly worries about him, he checks in with him, he notices when things are wrong. I think it ties in with some of the other sub-themes of masculinity. He's an older millennial learning how to be a kinder, gentler sort of man, and succeeding in a lot of ways, but he's still struggling with some of the legacies of hegemonic masculinity.

Because, caring though he is, Charlie’s dad is deeply imperfect. He could really have changed the dynamic between Charlie and his mum but he chose to stay in the background. He seems to know when Jane goes too far, but doesn't really act on that, at least not where we can see. And if he is talking to her behind the scenes, it's not effective. Sometimes he's also actively part of the problem. Sometimes he doesn't notice when his kids are hurting, or he chooses not to reach out to them. It's so obvious he loves his wife and loves his children, he's so clearly an empathetic guy, but he's so ineffectual in so many ways. It's almost as if, in an attempt to lean into a kinder masculinity, he doesn't feel like he can be assertive when he needs to be, to step in when he should. (Obviously, I see a lot of my family in Charlie’s, and myself in Charlie, so I could be projecting a tiny bit…)