I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had friends who had their whole futures mapped out, which always made me feel inadequate, because all I ever knew was that I wanted to be a father. I was going to have a family, and that was all that really mattered.
I was pretty sure that I would be good at it too -- the whole being a dad thing. I had every reason to believe that I would be a pretty kickass dad:
-I'm a pretty laid back guy, and I can usually keep my cool in stressful situations. After spending a few years managing a residence for young men with developmental disabilities, I figured that raising kids would be a walk in the park.
-I'm very creative, with a generally sunny and pleasant disposition. It should be easy for me to come up with fun activities and just to generally play and get into all sorts of mischief with the kids. Solid qualifications, right?
Apparently, I should also add to my list of qualities that I'm not very smart -- not about some things, anyway. Being a dad is hard. It's great, but it's hard. Parenting, it would seem, is more nurture than nature (yup, the choice of words there was totally intentional). In other words, regardless of how naturally inclined you are at it, like anything else, it's something you really need to work at to learn and something you need to actively try to improve at.
I am not going to claim to be a perfect parent or to pretend to be some sort of expert. I just want to be a good dad. A few times a week, for just a few minutes here and a few minutes there, I can be pretty all-star though. I am just trying to share anything I can, and if finding and sharing new ways to be a better parent actually makes me a better parent in the process, and gives me a few more of those Super-Ultra-Mega-Dad moments, then I think we all win.
Welcome to my blog.
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