SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO SINGLE DAD: PEREZ HILTON

If you follow my blog, you know that the majority of the time I am mostly talking to moms and women, but today, I thought I would give a special shout out to all of the dads out there and especially to single dads, who work so hard to provide for their children.

Everyone knows that anybody can be a dad but it takes real love and dedication to be a good father.  Today's special shout out post goes to: Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., better known, as Perez Hilton, who was born and raised in Miami, Florida, just like me.  He is best known for his gossip blog: PerezHilton.com

I can tell you that I spent many times going to read his blog to get all the juicy gossip on celebrities when I was younger. If I wanted to know what was going on with a celebrity or if something was true or controversial, I knew I could always count on Perez's blog to get me the 411.

These days I find myself following Perez on most of his social media platforms for a completely different reason. Although, he is still a fierce gossip blogger, I mainly follow him now because I absolutely love to watch how he parents his kids and how they are growing up. No, not in a stalker kind of way - in a Cuban mom kind of way!  

I can totally relate to being a Cuban parent from Miami trying to do your best for your kids. However, Perez is faced with tougher obstacles in his parenting, as he is a single, gay man raising three kids alone. However, he is blessed to have his mom help him out quite often. 

 

IMAGE: HUFF POST

Don't get me wrong, being gay is NOT an obstacle! I am simply saying that it is that much harder for him to juggle his work life,  family life, his acting life and his social life alone, for which he often times, faces discrimination and lots hate (especially from people online.)  There are many great, devoted dads out there of course, but I thought I would focus my article on Perez because I use to see how much people hated him and how intensely he was criticized, simply for being an honest blogger. I have noticed how he has evolved as a human being and as a father, even if only online.

Back in the day, people either loved Perez Hilton's brutal honestly and opinions or they hated him.  I found myself somewhere in the middle. Today, I can tell you from what I have observed online, that Perez is a wonderful, loving and devoted father.  I love that he is a single dad doing his absolute best to raise his kids. Everything he does, every gig he tries out for is to better his life for his kids.  I am being bold enough to assume I know this but it is the vibe I get when I watch his videos and clips on Instagram.

I find myself completely entertained watching the videos he posts about his kids when he gives them gifts, sometimes on a daily.  Some of the things he does and discusses gets me thinking about my own parenting. It doesn't mean I agree with every single thing he does but I love that he is such an involved dad.  He takes time with each one of his kids individually and takes them on special outings often. He has also taken the time and effort to make his kids bilingual.  I know that being born in Miami, Florida myself, and being raised in a Cuban household, being bilingual was just second-nature. I have to admit though, I found it very difficult to speak ONLY Spanish to my kids.  I let that effort slip through the cracks because I only spoke to my children in Spanish until they started school and then I just got lazy about it, so I commend Perez for sticking to it and making his children bilingual. It will most definitely benefit them in the future.

One of my favorite videos and things that Perez taught his kids, was the rules of the family.  He would re-iterate with his oldest child, the importance of family, listening, being a good person etc...and then make him repeat it until he learned all the rules (a.k.a. family credos.) It was adorable to watch him say them all in Spanish.

All in all, I think that Perez Hilton, not only turned out to be a super famous blogger, which is the goal for most bloggers online, but he also turned out to be an amazing parent as well!  Kudos!

I guess the moral of my post is to never judge a book by its cover. 

Oh! And speaking of book, Perez also wrote a book years ago, called The Boy With Pink Hair, which tells the story of a young boy with pink hair who gets bullied, makes a friend, and overcomes hate! 

Keep rocking the dad life Perez!  (PS. Totally rooting for him to be on Celebrity Big Brother - that would be epic!)