Thoughts on Fatherhood

September 16, 2019 18 By EngineerMommy

Ok, today is going to be a change of pace around here. My husband is going to do a guest post today. He has always had a way with words so I know y’all are in good hands. Without further ado, I present my husband, who will share a few thoughts on fatherhood.


When it comes to fatherhood, some of my absolute favorite figures of speech come from my in-laws. I would borrow two of their phrases if I had to really try and relate the core, really dig out the pith of what fatherhood, or parenthood in general, is all about.

First, from my mother-in-law, about her grand-daughters, I hear all the time: “They’re delicious!”

While also mildly conjuring the comical image of a cartoon wolf dressed in old lady guise, the phrase, as it relates to my daughters, somehow really strikes a nerve somewhere deep. It’s the same exact nerve being strummed when my father in-law used to say: “They make your heart swell.”

It’s aptly vivid language for relating what it feels like to love your child. It’s that sheer bliss, at times, that stops you in your tracks, and reminds you how lucky you are to be able to witness all of those moments of joy, innocence and triumph.

Being ‘Daddy’ is all that! But it also can be so hard, and so tough, and so challenging, that it often has my head spinning. Being ‘Daddy’ comes with an inherent knowledge that I have a duty to provide and protect. Fatherly provisions don’t encompass just the material anymore. In fact, it can be consuming, even exhausting at times, to provide all of the right emotional and mental support that kids need… and in a very time-sensitive way.

Sometimes being ‘Daddy’ means a lost night of sleep because one of them woke up with a fever. Sometimes being ‘Daddy’ means getting up to tuck her in for the third time without outwardly losing my patience. Sometimes being ‘Daddy’ means saying I’m sorry for outwardly losing my patience. Sometimes being ‘Daddy’ means knowing there is nothing you can do but stand by and watch your child struggle, because even though you burn to, you can’t fight their every battle.

Being ‘Daddy’ is being tired, nervous, elated, proud, sad and soul-inspiring. But being those delicious little kids’ ‘Daddy’, is the only thing that could make your heart swell quite so. There really isn’t any other job like it!


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