This blog is about a dad doing it.
When my wife's work schedule flipped from early mornings to afternoons, my life was turned on it's head. I was relieved of breakfast and bus stop duty and promoted to head dinner chef. Luckily I'm self employed, so I could move my hours around to make it work. Now, five nights a week I'm required to sift through the cabinets and the fridge and put something together for the troops. I have to make sure the kids do their home work most nights, and I have them to myself almost all Sunday.
At first, my new assignment felt like mission impossible (complete with smoking appliances). I've never been a cook at all, let alone a good cook. Then I realized that the new arraignment was what I've wanted my whole life; I'm a dad who can spend lots of time with his kids.
I call it ecstatic exhaustion. I call it God's work in the trenches. I hardly have a minute that belongs to me, and my butt's dragging most of the time. But This is what I signed up for! I'm learning to cook, to be more patient with my kids, and to enjoy simple things like the color of a stir fry or a great cut of meat from Clancy's Meats in Linden Hills.
If you've ever wondered why children cry for their mothers when they wake up scared during the night, it's because many mothers spend loads of time with their kids. And it's not just quality time ("quality time" being the biggest con of the Twenty-First Century). The work mothers do is often long hours bathing, feeding, comforting, and disciplining their children. Quantity time is where it's at!
I don't know about you, fellow dads, but I don't want to miss out. Childhood passes too quickly. I want my image firmly established in the minds and hearts of my children.
So if you're a single dad, if you share parenting with your partner, or if your partner has a great job and your career is on hold for the cause, this blog is for you. Or if you're a mom wanting to peek into the world of bumbling daddom, this blog is for you too.
Daddydoit has simple, easy recipes. Things to do with your kids. The Psychology of Kidding category offers tips about child development issues. But most of all, this is where you can come to commiserate with other parents who are in the same leaky boat as you.
copiwrite B. A. F.
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