I Love This!
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I Love This!
Being a Dad is a lot of Fun
John Paul Derryberry
I'm going to admit something about life in a second. I find it odd that it doesn't occur more in our society, or that there hasn't been a push for it to be a more significant part of our dialogue. There isn't a birthday, anniversary, or even a special occasion attached to the declaration I'm about to make. So I could care less if people share, like, retweet, or do anything other than read this edition of Sunday Night with John. I feel my statement should be declared more often because we are often so negative about life. An even more substantial point: more men should step up and be vulnerable enough to admit feeling this way about a part of our lives. So deep breath in, exhale, and release.
I freaking love everything about being a Dad! There isn’t an aspect of it this experience that annoys me. First let’s chat about the idea of parenthood. Before actually becoming a parent, we all carry the concept of what parenthood is, and then it completely changes once the baby arrives. We all have this idea of what being a parent means, whether that terrifies us or excites us. We have our reasons for becoming parents, some of them healthy, some of them very unhealthy. Once you have the kid, all that kind of goes out the window, and you either embrace it or run from it. And for some reason, I don't hear enough from men about how fun it really is being a Dad, because three years in, I’m having an absolute blast! Part of that is because men just talk less about everything in general. Still another factor is that it's not seen as a discussion point for men unless the social event calls for it. I don't want to be the Dad who saves all the emotional stuff for graduations or weddings. I want my girls to know as frequently as possible; I love being their Dad, way more than I thought I would.
Look, I feel you all rolling your eyes at me and wanting to scream about how stressful and frustrating parenting can be, and you will get no argument from me on that fact. But I love even that part of it. Watching my daughter flawlessly execute her bedtime routine with her stuffed animals-- I love it. Watching her completely forget the routine and use every stall tactic when it's time for her to go to bed-- I love that too. It cracks me up. Watching my younger daughter figure out she can mess with big sis-- I absolutely love it. Is it fun correcting it? Not exactly, but the conversation usually makes me laugh. Do I get frustrated and tired? Yes, I do. Do I also love the feeling when I hand them to the grandparents for an overnight? That's a big old yes. Did I train for a marathon to get some much-needed alone time? Yes, and I loved that too. Finally, do I like watching my wife be a Mom? That's probably the second most enjoyable thing in my life. The first is when both girls decide it's time to rough house with Dad.
The point is, it has been unbelievably enjoyable being a father. I'm excited to see them develop, grow, and to go on this ride of life with them. I miss them when we get the rare night away. I find it awkward in conversations when people talk about not enjoying being a parent. The future with them has joy written all over it, even if there will be tears and a laundry list of other emotions along the way. There will be challenging moments, hard conversations, and life events that rock us to our core. But, those moments are always easier to navigate when you are around people who communicate throughout the relationship, I enjoy you, I love you, and I care about you.
Some of you might be asking why declare this now and a lot of it has to do with the most significant piece of advice I get from every parent: enjoy it; it goes by way too fast. All that complaining about being a parent, and when they become adults, you miss it dearly. So I'm going to enjoy it, I'm going to have fun, and I'm going to tell a lot of folks, I absolutely love being a Dad. I'm still going to plan some weekends away, though-- let's not pretend those aren't healthy for parents. Just like I love my tasty beer after they go down for the night. So I've gotta wrap this up. I have a bedtime routine to get through. I'm pretty confident my girls have schemed up new ways to avoid going to bed and I can't wait to see what they came up with!