Happy Fathers Day To All The Dads Out There!
Since we just celebrated Father’s Day, I thought it was appropriate to write my blog this week on what I love about being a Dad. As I went for an easy run on fathers day, I could not help but think how fortunate I am to be a “Dad” to our children. Like so many of you, Barb and I feel so fortunate to have been parents and watch and enjoy all moments of being a parent (or perhaps I should say “most” moments of being a parent!). All in all, it has been an amazing journey and I would not trade being a Dad for anything.
For the record, I always kid our children that Father’s Day is the “biggest day of the year” however we all know that Mother’s day is the most important day of the year!
As many of you already know, our children are now fully grown young adults with our oldest son Tim being 28, Matt 25 and our daughter Lauren 22. As most of us parents feel, we can’t believe how quickly time has passed as a parent. We are so proud of our children in every way and I am so proud to call myself their “Dad”. It is difficult for me to narrow down the things I love about being a Dad as there are so many things I love about it however I have tried to take a stab at it below:
1.Amazing times/Fun times
I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every single moment and year of being a parent. When our children were young friends warned us about the “terrible two’s” and the trials and tribulations of the “teenage” years. I must say that I have enjoyed every single year of being a parent even with some minor challenges along the way. Overall it has been such a great experience and I have loved the journey of being a parent and continue to love it even more as they age.
We often “reminisce” about the fun times, adventures, trips, quirky habits that all of us have and celebrate those moments as a family. We continue to build on these memories by creating new experiences and memories with our children as often as possible. As our children get older we cherish every minute that we get to spend with them preferably in person however that has been difficult for so many of us the last little while.
2.Seeking and Giving Advice
One of the things I have really enjoyed and especially as they get older is the fact that they come to us for advice on so many different things. As they grew up it was advice on things such as social, relationships, school, courses, sports to name a few. Often they just wanted our input or perspective on things however at the end of the day they made their own decisions which I love. I must also say that as they have grown into young adults, we equally value their opinion on so many things. I find as they get older I am constantly asking for their input and expertise on different aspects of business, health, my blog, fitness, marketing, sales, and graphic design to name a few.
3. Attending Their Sports and Activities
If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that our family has always had a focus on health and fitness. When our children were growing up we constantly supported their own participation in many different sports. Everything from soccer, hockey, running, cycling, triathlon, track and field, football, skiing and ski racing to name a few. One tradition I started with the boys when Tim was 10 and Matt 8 was to visit a different NFL stadium every year with the goal of visiting every team and city in the NFL (I will be 75 when we are done!). This is a tradition that we have kept up and is one of our favourite weekends of the year and we certainly hope we can continue on with this tradition this year assuming the season starts. In addition to sports, with Barbs’ great influence the children also attended other activities such as summer camps, art classes, dance classes, music lessons to name a few. I must say I always enjoyed attending these activities as well and especially the music recitals which were always very interesting!
4.Teaching them = Teaching Us
I believe that as parents we believe our role is to be the “teacher” to our children. My feeling on this is that although we needed to teach our children many skills, we really needed to guide them so that they could make the right decisions on their own which I believe has served them well as young adults as they can and do make their own decisions. I also value that as they have grown into very mature young adults that they now “teach” us as parents and we learn from them. It is very common for me to run things by our children to get their viewpoints or thoughts on something before I make a decision. I find that they often offer a very different and refreshing perspective on so many things.
5.Health Focus
For those that read my blog regularly, you likely know that we are a family that is quite focused on overall health including fitness. We constantly keep up to date as a family on health information on the internet, articles we read, new and exciting treatments, health podcasts we listen to, supplement information, new workout programs, and new fitness testing to name a few. Since the entire family seems to love this space, we are constantly sharing updates, new information, interesting articles, and podcasts with each other. I love the fact as a parent that our kids are so health-focused and also share so much great information with us and the rest of the family.
6.Best Friends
One thing I have witnessed as our children have grown into young adults is our role has changed from “parenting” to “guiding” and now as best friends. We are and always will be our children’s parents however we love the fact that we are so close to our children and think of them as our “best friends”. We have a ball with them and love the relationship we have with our children and that is one of the things I cherish and will always cherish most about being their Dad.
7.Time
One of the things that Barb reminds me of is how precious and valuable our time is and nothing replaces the time we spend together as a family or with our children. As a Dad, I value the precious time that we get to spend with our children. As they have grown into adults and taken advantage of amazing opportunities in other cities, our time spent together as a family is less so we really truly value any personal time we have together. I must say with technology, it does allow us to connect at least a few times per week which is great however nothing replaces spending personal time together. We will continue to look forward to our family gatherings and family time together as nothing can replace that precious and fun time together.
I hope that all of the Dads out there had an amazing Fathers Day!
Wishing you and your family all the best in health and happiness,
Kev
