An analysis by a major card retailer has illustrated the changing depiction of fathers' roles in the household across 50 years.

Weight gain, clothing choices and emotional connections with their children are just some of the ways dads have changed in half a century, according to an archive analysis by Clintons.

The card company, which has studied thousands of Father’s Day cards since the 1950s, said that their leisure time preferences have shifted from reading the paper in slippers on an armchair to barbecuing or watching the football on the sofa with a drink.

Tim Fairs, a director at Clintons, said: “Dads have always been treated affectionately in cards, but in the last decade we've seen reverence replaced with anything goes humour.

"Some traditionalists might bristle at this, but the reality is that the humour shows how accessible and important dads are to their kids and that’s a cause for celebration.”

According to the research, dads have gone through five phases starting in the mid to late 1960s as the slightly austere dad, sitting in an armchair in a three-piece suit and tie, smoking a pipe and reading the paper whilst family attend to his every need.

The undo the tie phase, in the late 1960s and early 1970s were characterised by cards that invite dads to abandon the razor and the tie for a day of ‘indulgence.'

Following this, Father's Day cards in the early 1970s to 1980s went through the Walter Mitty phase, showing dads as sporting icons or adventure sports enthusiasts.

The cute bear phase, in the 1980s, depicted dads to be more approachable and emotional.

And lastly, the anything goes phase, which shows dads of today who are the subject of jokes and ribbed for their fondness for beer or fast food.

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