Musing from a new father

Often it feels like in life that people will try and prepare you for something that is coming up.  We get education to further enhance and benefit our intelligence on things we were formerly ignorant of.  This opens up new worlds and new understandings of how the world works and how we interact with that world around us.  Over the years, I have had good personal friends tell me the tale of being a dad.  While everything they said have been true, it seems that the real effect of being a dad doesn’t really hit home until a few weeks past your child being born.

Your agenda means nothing.

This was my first lesson in on being a dad.  Nothing you plan or plan to do can be done.  Seriously.  Just forget it.  I’ve read books and had people tell me this but until I actually experienced it, I didn’t really believe it or maybe I didn’t want to believe it.  When the baby is born, you get this overwhelming sense of joy and awe but those are quickly replaced by needing to nurse, changing the diapers and holding them while they try and fall asleep.  This results in lack of sleep, bags under your eyes, questioning what day it is and general sanity being lost.  It leads you to ask… what is it that baby wants?  I was shocked that my kid couldn’t actually talk and tell me exactly what he needed.  Again, if you think you know what baby needs, chances are you don’t.

Get used to military time.

Now, I’ve gotten used to military time for various other reasons but as I alluded to earlier, time warps and becomes darn irrelevant to what baby wants.  If its 0200, baby wants to eat.  If its 0252 baby needs a diaper change.  If its 1753, baby might be sleepy which is an ominous sign which could lead to your sleepless night.  Day or not, light or dark, get used to not caring as baby doesn’t care!

What exactly did we sign up for?

All joking aside, I hope you realize that while this blog has some insights, it is another “I told you so…” from another dad to all you soon to be dad’s out there.  What is most important is that you have patience to learn something new.  Remember the school analogy I used earlier— A baby is like taking sociology, science, math, physics, language and philosophy all in one.  Only in time can we come to understand and master what we understand but it takes the art of practice to make that perfect.

-A