1. Fatherly love is complete in a way that nothing else is. I can be strict when I need to be, but each of my children knows that our bond is unconditional. There is nothing they could do to make me stop loving them.
2. I always thought fatherhood was something that you learned. I actually think now, having raised three children, it’s something that we as men already know. It’s the external judgment about how to do it that we have to un-learn.
3. Even as babies, boys are obsessed with their penises. That being said, you have to pay attention during diaper changes or you’ll get shot in the eye.
4. Kids look to you to know how to respond to stress. If they fall down and you stay calm, they stay calm. If you freak, they freak.
5. The feeling of your child falling off to sleep in your arms is as close to heaven as I have been on this earth.
6. Babies squirt some really weird shit right after they are born.
7. Each human being, even your own child, has a personality uniquely their own. Trying to force something different on to them is like trying to swim up a waterfall. Better to embrace what it is that makes them who they are.
8. A watched pot never boils. By that I mean we put so many damn expectations on our kids these days that they have no way to find their own voice.
9. Passion is the answer to all problems. If your child is passionate about something, anything, they are going to be just fine.
10. Whoever said, “As a parent you are only as happy as your least happy child” is correct.
11. It’s good to use a forearm when diapering to prevent the roll.
12. You cannot save your children from harm. You can educate them and love them and use reasonable judgment as a dad, but they have to soar on their own into a world that is not always safe or friendly or nice.
Read more: Tom Matlack, Good Men Project
