First Post: Roll Call

21st century dads out there: You’re awesome

When I became a dad last year, I didn’t fully appreciate just how much work parenting really takes. Reading this, you may be thinking “No shit,” but you really can’t understand this point until you go through the experience. It’s not just the sleepless nights and the crying but the mundane — researching strollers, Tylenol vs Motrin, debating sleep training strategies — that in the grand scheme of things don’t matter but eat up your time.

For me, this meant doing a countless number of Google searches. While the info I found was generally useful, I noticed that most posts were written by Mommys. We live in a world (at least I do) where men are expected to carry a lot more weight in the parenting equation, so where were all the outlets geared towards those 21st century dads holding it down?

This blog is my homage to all those awesome fathers out there. I’ll share random tidbits, tips, and stories from my journey to date. If you’re a dad, hopefully you can relate and find some amusement in my posts. If you are about to embark on this journey, hopefully you will find some useful nuggets that will make your ride a bit smoother.

A little bit about our family:

Sumip (Me): I’m 31, California born and raised, live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and work in the tech industry.

Chhavi (aka Wife): She’s a doctor. In December of this year, we’ll hit our 5 years anniversary. We’re yin and yang in so many ways, but we’ve made it this far.

Maya (aka Baby): The star of the show. I don’t have a reference point, but she’s been a very good baby so far. Always happy, loves smiling at strangers, not a picky eater, generally sleeps well, no colic, and super adorable.

As you can see from the photo above, we try to Yolo as much as possible and not take things too seriously. There’s obviously many constraints, but Maya has already seen the UAE, India, and New Zealand in the first 10 months of life. In many ways I’m a typical new generation parent, but I also try to be a contrarian on a few parenting things that really annoy me (see: helicopter parenting). I’m sure this tug of war will become evident in my future posts.

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Cheers!