Parenting
Becoming a Father and Growing into a Daddy
From selfish ass to guardian of the future
Today is Father’s Day in the USA and many other countries, including Canada, the UK, and South Africa. New Zealand, however, celebrates Father’s Day on a Sunday in September.
I wrote this article a while back but held off on publishing it. Not sure why. It wasn’t specifically written for Father’s Day. I wrote it because it was one of those days — a day where I stopped and took stock of my life. I looked at how my kids changed everything in my life and how they have grown so quickly.
It was difficult initially to process the miracle of seeing a small human, made up of bits from my wife and me, become animated with life and be so innocent and fragile. To observe our first child, our daughter, a celebration of our love — her very existence a miracle — crawl and play and laugh and cry.
And so, as I took stock, my thoughts drifted back to the many challenges along the way and how it affected and changed and molded me. It tested my limits, for sure, but I learned a lot. My kids taught me to look at life with new eyes and embrace it with both arms, for their sake as well as for mine.
It also showed me that stay-at-home moms have one of the most challenging jobs in…
