Saturday with Dad. Mike’s musings.

Today is the first guest post in what I am hoping will become a weekly series.

Saturday with Dad.

Our first contributor is Mike, a forty something father to one son and one daughter (a friend of Number 4’s) who lives in Connecticut and is a police officer.

A big thank you to Mike for sharing!

Great Idea Susie….just a few quick thoughts from what you’ve asked. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few years now, and I think you know my personality, so I don’t mind being blunt. What keeps me up at night….

Um, honestly, my relationship with my wife.  Not the kid stuff, that stuff is easy for me.  It is the stuff that gets in the way of US, that is the hard stuff.

I worry about drugs.  I have seen so much in my career, and so many kids that have come from caring and loving families, that STILL threw their lives away, and it scares the shit out of me that my precious little ones that I raised from infants could hurt themselves so badly.  I worry that I honestly cannot remember what the kids were like as babies.  Zip. Zero. Nada.  I have pictures, and broad memories of the experience of no sleep, and changing diapers; but I really cant remember THEM when they were little, and I feel like I should.

The no fun stuff is when I come down hard on the kids, and they look ‘hurt’.  I dont know if it’s my baggage projected onto the situation, but I worry about my kids growing up….nervous.  I want them to be strong and confident.  I worry about my daughter much more than my son; and not because of the stupid T-shirt saying…but because I know a lot of the dangerous behavior that young women engage in is often in direct conflict with their relationship with their dad.  I worry about the fine line between being a firm and caring father to my daughter, without pushing her into the arms of an asshole that will treat her like shit….because I told her not to.  And yes, when I see a stripper, I think to myself…”That girl HATES her father.”

And when my son is playing ball, I am thinking that if he misses a catch, or whiffs on a swing, that it will appear as a direct result of me failing to teach him properly.  Yup…we worry about that crap too.  Not because of what the other dad’s might think though, I really couldn’t care less about that….but I do feel that it is MY responsibility as a dad for this shit all be squared away.  But I will admit,  when I see a kid that still can’t catch a pop fly at 10, I think “Geez, that kid’s dad must NEVER play catch with him”.

The stuff I love about being a dad…..when I am away from home for a few days and my daughter begs me to come home early.  Watching them grow into their personalities.  When I see my kids being kind to strangers, and having good friends.

If my kids can grow up to be confident, self sufficient, generous and productive members of society…I will feel as though I have done my job.  If they don’t kill me first!

I’m looking for more contributions! Readers are really interested to hear from the dads!

Like I said, you can contribute anonymously if you’d rather, and you can write about anything pertaining to fatherhood, or being a husband, or both!

Some suggestions:

• the challenges of raising sons
• the challenges of raising daughters
• the challenges of being married
• the stuff you love about parenthood and/or marriage
• the stuff you hate about parenthood and/or marriage
• the stuff that scares the shit out of you
• the stuff that makes you laugh or cry or want to rip your hair out (if you still have it 😉 )

Please submit your posts to me through the contact/advertising tab in the menu bar above, email susanjanney@sbcglobal.net, or attach to a message on the facebook page.

We can’t wait to hear more!

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