“That first hug from my girls after a work trip. Hug ’em tight! Keep ’em close” said an emotional father Alexis Ohanian on his daughters earlier this year. Serena Williams‘ husband is a proud dad who never shies away from expressing his love for Olympia and Adira. Despite his busy schedule, he never misses spending special moments with the little ones. And who can forget his ‘Papa Pancake’ routine – one that has further strengthened their bond? The busy business dad can not stress enough how fatherhood has changed him.

As Ohanian puts it, in his youth, his world used to revolve around his work. He used to make most of his decisions based on career requirements. But once he became a father, the priorities shifted. But at the same time, Ohanian believed that it had empowered him further.

“I have this family that I know is going to be my actual legacy, and it puts into perspective how important those moments with my family are. My family is what I am actually going to be remembered for by the people I actually care about. I don’t think this makes us any less competitive. If anything, I think I’ve gotten more competitive since becoming a father. But I look at all of my decisions through this lens of I’m having a future conversation with my kid, and I want her to be super proud of what I did, the decisions I made, the stakes of which are now the stakes of my legacy,” Ohanian had said in a conversation with CNN in 2022.

With the latest moment shared on social media, he’s once again given a perfect instance of what he meant by shifting priorities. Not only that, he also prayed that every man gets to experience that in their lifetime. Alexis took to his Instagram and dropped a sweet photo on Sunday, with Olympia and Adira. He can be seen hugging the two as Olympia and Adira hold him tight together with their small hands – it’s just pure bliss! “Fellow men: I pray that you all get to feel this kind of love,” wrote the proud father while hoping for all other men to experience such a moment as well with their children.

It’s not the first time, however, that Ohanian has unleashed his fatherhood. In October, during an interaction with Taylor Smith for the latter’s Offseason NFC podcast, he revealed how he, despite his work, takes out time for his daughters. It’s because he simply doesn’t want to miss out on sharing key moments with them. He even candidly took shots at people who criticize him for spending too much time on being a father.

“I have business folks I work with. I have got guys who sincerely think I am not nearly as committed as I am to success at work because they know that side of my persona. And it’s so wild, because I’m like, bro I know I outwork you, I know my returns are better than you. But I think it’s cute that you have this idea that I can’t be showing up for my kids, making some pancakes, and also show up to beat your a–”, he said. With that in mind, Ohanian has become a vocal advocate of paid paternity leave. And that also came out of his experience as a father.

When Olympia was born in 2017, Ohanian took 16 weeks of paid paternity leave, which was the policy at Reddit. Interestingly, Reddit’s paternity leave policy was not Ohanian’s idea. “Our vice president of people and culture, Katelin Holloway, brought it up to me in a meeting and it sounded O.K., so why not?” he had revealed. But he got a hang of the need for it when Olympia was born.

Serena had a difficult pregnancy. Near-fatal complications forced her to undergo an emergency C-section. She spent days fighting for her life against pulmonary embolisms. When they went home with our baby girl, Serena had a hole in her abdomen that needed bandage changes daily. She was on medication and couldn’t walk. For days, Ohanian spent time taking care of Serena and their newborn. Ohanian thinks, this leave not only made him confident but also brought a shift in perspective.

“Taking leave also set me off on the right foot for sharing parental responsibilities. Two years later, there is no stigma in our house about me changing diapers, feeding Olympia, doing her hair or anything else I might need to do in a pinch. They’re all just dad things (not “babysitter” things — I hate it when people refer to dads spending time with their kids as babysitting),” Ohanian had said to the New York Times. With that, he feels the need to break the stigma about paternity leave.

“Men are conditioned to be breadwinners, exclusively — and another mouth to feed calls for more bread on the table (to say nothing of college tuition) — so off to work we go. Our sense of duty is often fear-based: Men assume their bosses will frown on paternity leave, so we don’t dare to go there,” Ohanian thought. So he is leading from the front to break this. And how does he do that? As he says, by doing ‘dad things’!

Alexis Ohanian reveals his pancake ambition for daughter Olympia

Apart from his profession as an entrepreneur, he’s also taken up a new role as a pancake artist. Thanks to this, he’s been able to jell even better with Olympia and Adira, especially on weekends!

Just last month, Alexis shared a clip on his Instagram, dated November 27, showing his true feelings of being a pancake artist for his daughters. He began the weekend ritual to make his bond with Olympia stronger. After the birth of Adira, both the little ones have become a part of his tradition. However, Olympia has grown now and she keeps giving her remarks to her dad on his pancakes. In the Instagram clip, Alexis revealed how he’s working on taking this role to the next level.

Although his pancakes are amazing, Alexis knows that “they are not the best possible tasting pancakes.” But why? “Part of it’s the consistency. To make them in the squeeze bottle, to make the art I want them to make, they can’t be too fluffy. Because as they expand, they start to distort the image. So basically the pancake batter that I make doesn’t taste great. It tastes fine. Olympia doesn’t know any better. She just thinks that’s what pancakes look and taste like,” he explained.

He revealed that Olympia has now started taking a serious interest in his art. And to make her happy, he may try to become a pro. Simply put, he wants “to be the best pancake artist I can.” Continuing further, he even said, “If she shows an interest, I’m becoming the expert” at making really good pancakes. What are your thoughts on Alexis’ goals to be a great pancake artist for his daughters? Let us know in the comments below.