Half Italian-Half American, bilingual, and traveling between New York and Italy with his two boys and Italian wife, the founder of New York Dad writes about life as an urban dad with categories like Grumpy Old Man Rants, Daddyhood, and technology.
Why does everybody know how to be a better parent? I’m not saying I am an expert by any stretch of the imagination nor am I “Father Of The Year” or “Super Dad” (not even to my kid these days since he is in TT3 mode a.k.a. the Truly Terrible Threes). Grandparents aside (they always think they did a better job with you than you are doing with your kids – it’s in the job description under “How to be a royal pain in the butt!”), everybody else, especially the childless and old ladies with dogs, have all the secrets to child rearing.
How many times does your single friend–after asking if you wanted to grab a drink during Happy Hour and “hang out” (and you politely decline)–grumble how they will never allow kids to ruin their lives (my20-something sister-in-law actually told my wife and me without hesitation that she will never lead the “sad” life that we lead – uhm, gee thanks).
First of all, parenting has its moments so why do you assume my life is ruined? Second of all, I have to wonder if by “never” you mean you will never have kids and as a consequence to not have your life ruined?
A friend recently told my wife and me about a colleague who asked her if she wanted to have a girls’ night out. Our friend declined saying that she was tired and had to get home to her toddler son. The friend suggested that she could go home to tuck in her kid, take a quick nap and then a shower to freshen up and then meet later on. I laughed so hard that it sounded like an elephant snorting (I imagined her waving a magic wand and her child falling instantly into a deep slumber). No words were exchanged, but we all understood each other (if I go home and take a “quick nap” after work there is no way I am getting up again until morning!). The best part about the story is that the son was not even part of the nap, shower, or night-out equation (sure, no problem, the kid is the easy part).
I sometimes sigh and think back at those carefree days and I will admit that I too did not fully comprehend why life should be any different with kids – I just hope I wasn’t that foolish and naïve. And to my sister-in-law I say this: ”We’ll talk again when you have kids!”
