Being a parent is one of the coolest jobs in the world. It is also the hardest. The hardest part is that you have to versed in many professions. You have to be a nurse, a chef, a handyman, a teddy bear, a psychologist, a scientist, a historian, a philosopher, a drill Sargent, a judge, a juror, a taxi driver, and much much more.

Here is my simple list of why parenting is so great:

1.Hugs & Kisses -

Being a father to 2 girls opens the door to so much love and affection. There is always hugging, kissing and long soft embraces. It just warms my heart to have my girls run or stumble towards me when I get home from work and practically knock me to the ground with their strong hugs. It usually turns into a quick wrestling match where I always end up losing.

2. Toys Toys TOYS!!!! -

Oh man,! I love the toys I get to play with. I have been very lucky with PJ and the toys she likes to play with. She loves Lego’s, Lincoln Logs, Star Wars, video games and tons of other “boy” toys. One of my greatest memories so far has been when I gave my childhood mega box of Legos to PJ and she completely love it. We dumped all the pieces out and played for hours [or until I finished about 2 beers and my back was killing me]. But, you knew there had to be a but coming, my oldest still likes to have her “girl” toys. I have been Barbie’s BFF, a stuffed animal play friend and invited to more tea parties than I can remember. With MJ being so young, almost 1, I expect and look forward to playing a lot of the same games. But I am also preparing myself for a level of disappointment since MJ will have a big sister to play with. I have a feeling I am going to be left out in the cold and not invited to play with them.

3. Re-living & re-calling your childhood memories -

Growing up in the late 70′s and 80′s was so much fun [yes I am dating myself *sigh*]. There were all the adventures experienced with your friends, because your parents told you to get out of the house. They weren’t hovering over you like a helicopter watching every move. You were told to be  home when the street lights came on and to stay out of trouble [if I remember right, my definition of trouble was different then my moms].

Now for the NOT so great reasons to be a parent:

1. No time -

Here some people might say that they don’t have time for themselves. And that is true when you are a parent. But for me, I don’t  have enough time in the day to enjoy my girls. After getting home from work I get about an hour with MJ which includes a small amount of play, sometimes feeding her, her evening bath, a book and then she is off to bed. During some of this hour I am trying to squeeze in some conversation with PJ while she is either eating dinner [no Renae & I  don't eat dinner with our kids, we will talk about this topic another time], finishing her homework or watching a movie. By the time MJ is in bed, PJ is about 20 to 30 minutes from heading to bed herself. I try to squeeze some solo time in for PJ then, but that list of honey-dos is staring at me asking me when they get my attention.  It’s amazing how much I do squeeze in with my girl after getting home no later then 6:15 every night. But it’s far from enough. Thank goodness for the weekends. But then that goes into another area where there is not enough time for the kids, the house to-do list, the lawn and my wife.

2. Sub 18 months -

Yes . . . sub 18 months. It is a hard, hard, hard time to be a parent with a child under 18 months . I remember most of this time period with PJ not being all that bad. But I am surely getting the swift kick in the balls memory reminder from MJ about how hard it is with a baby that can’t talk, but walks and is starting to learn that mom & dad have tolerance thresholds that can easily be reached and exceeded. I know I figured it would be easier to have a second child. Shit I know all there was to know about raising a baby. I already passed that test. What I didn’t realize is that the test changes with every child. The number of years between children doesn’t matter. The test given by each child is a challenge. The factor that adds to the difficulty is your age. If you are too young, you have no patience. If you are a bit older [cough mid 30s], you have used up all of your patience with child #1.

3. Early Mornings -

When you have kids that are sub a decade [10 years old FTW], they are still very much in tune with the rising and setting of the sun. When you are the parent that is able to get up early in the morning and be functional on no matter how much sleep you got, then you are screwed for years to come. There will be rare days of sleeping in past 7:30 am. For me Father’s day is my one sleep in day. I love that day. I long for more Father’s days. But I don’t see our government adding additional father’s days just for me. So it looks like I have about 9 years to wait until I am able to truly sleep in.

Thanks for reading,

- Ken