I’m a lucky father of three girls. It’s the hardest, most stressful, most wonderful and amazingly rewarding job I’ve ever had.
I remember arguing with my college roommate on the classic nature vs. nurture debate. I then naively thought of children as a blank canvas that parents can write on. I had an outsize idea of how my interactions would be and what ways I could influence them. Reality hit though; one of the biggest surprises of fatherhood is how much a child’s personality is innate. Three different kids , three different personalities. You can nudge them this way or that – although a nudge at a young age can go a long way – but there seems to be an essential quality that’s innate.
That being said, I’m constantly thinking of lessons that would have been useful to me growing up. Things that might have (or might not have!) made a subtle difference. This blog is a catalogue of those things – concepts and ideas that I want to teach my daughters as they grow up.