Monday Morning Dad Chapter 1

Me blogging? Where is the world is coming to? Well, I guess as I am getting old and people change over time. So far I have only made fun of bloggers (especially my wife) but here I am. We'll see how long I keep up with this blogging business.

Sometime last year I started writing a book named Monday Morning Dad. As the title says, I am a dad and on mondays I play the quarterback role in the family. I am an engineer by profession and my wife is a teacher. We have 3 children, ages 10, 8 and 5. My regular work schedule is Tues-Fri 10 hour days. So  years ago when my wife and I had children she decided to quit her teaching job and become a stay home mom to raise the children. Considering how poorly teachers are paid in the state of Arizona I had no problem with her decision (her salary would have barely paid for the childcare if she went back to work.)

Then one bright morning 10 years ago my wife had a brilliant (?) idea, "Hey hun, you are home on mondays. Why don't I substitute teach on Mondays and you can watch our daughter? This will also give me a break from taking care of our daughter 24-7."

My first reaction was - I can't even take care of myself, how the hell I am gonna take care of an infant (and me)?

So the learning process began. For some of you dads it might be easy because you may have grown up watching your dad take care of you guys. But I come from a culture where men don't take care of the children, men don't cook or clean or wash laundry. We had 2 servants when I was growing up. To give you an idea when I moved to the United States to go to college I had never been to the kitchen, couldn't pour myself a cup of tea or coffee, I didn't even know how to break an egg!! My wife on the other hand (born and raised in Ohio) was not going to put up with my ancestoral legacy (I made that word up - ancestoral).

So anywho, 10 years later I am 41 years old, I have many stories. Some are good, some are bad, some are hugging/crying type emotional and some are, to be honest, plain scary. I wanted to write a book to encourage new dads who are deep in water just like I was 10 years ago. The book idea evaporated quickly since I find myself interested in so many things especially sports. An easy solution I think is blogging. Through this if I can inspire 1 single dad anywhere in the world, I will consider this a success.

I claim proudly now that I can cook, clean, do laundry, take children to school, take them to soccer practice, swim lessons, tennis lessons, i even started coaching soccer for my 5 year old daughter's team. I do want to tell you that monday morning dad is not a perfect dad. Learning never ends. Most I learned was actually from my kids. As long as you realize that you can always be a better dad, you are going to be alright. You will hear your kids say, "that's not how mommy does it..." but that's ok. You have your own style and kids will eventually understand that mom and dad are 2 seperate individuals. Trust me - you can also do it and at the end of the day it's tiring but extremely rewording.

Just a quick preview of what I cook lately - more to come in the future :)