From my perspective as a father of a 35, 33, and 29 year old, being present when they were younger was the most important factor, because you never knew when "quality time" would strike.
Tremendously valuable insights here. We raise kids so badly in this country and in this century. My self included. Instead of allowing them to push boundaries and explore the (real, not digital) world on their own terms, we put absurd fences around the form and content of their explorations. On the flip side, instead of treating them like caterpillars, we treat them like mini butterflies. All they want from us is the feeling of freedom and unconditional joy as they experience it, not as we do. As infants my kids were frequently more interested in playing with the boxes than the gifts inside those boxes.
This hits so hard Chas. I feel that there’s an element of agency at play here, and when a day out has all the decisions made for the kids they have no ownership and are therefore more like spectators than players.
What One Dad Learned About Making Memories
This post makes a great point.
From my perspective as a father of a 35, 33, and 29 year old, being present when they were younger was the most important factor, because you never knew when "quality time" would strike.
robertsdavidn.substack.com/about
I love leaf racing, which I learned in the little ditch that ran next to the gravel parking lot next to the woods in elementary school.
Check out this series running this week with six pieces on fatherhood by six different authors here on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/bowendwelle/p/six-men-writing-about-fatherhood?r=1y0xe&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Tremendously valuable insights here. We raise kids so badly in this country and in this century. My self included. Instead of allowing them to push boundaries and explore the (real, not digital) world on their own terms, we put absurd fences around the form and content of their explorations. On the flip side, instead of treating them like caterpillars, we treat them like mini butterflies. All they want from us is the feeling of freedom and unconditional joy as they experience it, not as we do. As infants my kids were frequently more interested in playing with the boxes than the gifts inside those boxes.
This hits so hard Chas. I feel that there’s an element of agency at play here, and when a day out has all the decisions made for the kids they have no ownership and are therefore more like spectators than players.