Part III in my D.A.D. series features my friend Beau. He and his wife have a beautiful little girl and they are coming to visit us in July! I am so excited to see Graham and Mallory together. I am sure there will be lots of "Mine!", pushing and generally squabbling, but overall I think they will have fun together. In the meantime, here is a fun interview from Beau. I always figured he'd be a cool dad.
1) Name and Age - Beau, 396 months
2) Kids' Ages - Mallory, 21 months
3) When did you first relate to the word Dad? (Was it when someone called you dad? When your wife took the first pregnancy test?) Explain how you felt.
My relationship with the word "Dad" is ever-evolving. From the time we decided to have a child right up until Mallory was born, I was a future tense father. All of my thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams were about the type of dad I was going to be. Now that the hypothetical phase of parenthood is behind me, my idea of what it means to be a dad continues to change. So although I can't pinpoint a time or occasion when I first related to the word dad (other than the glaringly obvious event that earned me the title), I can tell you that my favorite way to be reminded that I'm a dad is for Mallory to exclaim "Daddy!" when she sees or hears me.
4) What is your favorite aspect of fatherhood?
I love exploring the world through her eyes. It's really fun to see what she finds interesting, and watch her get excited about various things. Recently we went on our first real walk to the playground down the street (as in, she actually walked instead of being strapped into a stroller), and getting there was at least half the fun for her. She stopped to pick up the world's coolest acorn, only to change her mind half a block later and toss it aside. She can see dogs from a mile away, and waves at them yelling "hi!" until their owners either wave back or bring the dog over for closer inspection.
5) What is your least favorite aspect of fatherhood?
Receiving unsolicited parenting advice based on the assumption that something I'm doing is wrong. For me, I think the idea of "it's not what you say, but how you say it" absolutely applies to parenting advice. When someone offers me advice or input by saying "here's what worked for me with my kid(s)" I welcome it, because it's non-judgmental. When someone offers me advice by saying "here's what you should do with your kid(s)" or "what you're doing is all wrong/won't work" it just rubs me the wrong way. I am much more receptive to hearing about what works for other people than I am to being told what to do.
6) Who is a dad you idolize/look up to/admire?
Pass. I can pass, right? If I can't, then let's go with Danny Tanner. He's a pretty good (fictional) dad who made the best of a bad situation by raising his three daughters with some help from his brother-in-law and a random dude named Joey. The best thing about Danny Tanner is that he's got a good relationship with his kids. I know it's scripted to be that way, but I really hope to be able to talk to my daughter about anything the way that he's able to do on the show.
7) Do you think dads ever get enough sleep?
It depends on how you define enough! In my case, if I'm not getting enough sleep it's usually got nothing to do with being a dad.
8) What advice do you have for new dads?
Well, after my mini-rant about how unsolicited parenting advice is my least favorite aspect of parenthood, I'm not sure I should answer this! However, what I wish I'd known before becoming a dad that I hadn't heard or read elsewhere, is that the early weeks and months can be boring and require a ton of patience. I wish I'd practiced being patient and bored.
9) What is your easiest go-to dinner?
For Mallory, the go-to foods are always blueberries, bananas, meatballs, pasta and string cheese. Any combination of those seems to work for her. When it comes to making dinner for the whole family, I fire up the grill and make hamburgers or barbecued chicken.
10) What is your favorite non-dad thing to do?
I like to run and I love watching television. Boring, right?
Haha! That does not sound boring to me Beau! It sounds like a great way to unwind after a day of parenting a toddler!
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