Happy Father's Day

Ward is a great father, so I thought I would interview him this Father's Day to get his perspective on on the important job of parenting.  I didn't time things very well and waited until he was in the middle of a work project to talk to him. Oops! I very kindly thank him for the time he was able to give me during my interruption.

Tell me about being a father. 

Newborn Wally. This is when the doubts began.

It's spending your life not being sure what you are supposed to do. How much do I help my kids? How much do I protect them? How much do I give them? How much do I let them fail to learn? Even now that Wally and Theo are adults, I still worry about those things.

As you mentioned Wally and Theo are young adults now. What do you see when you look at them?
I see responsible, kind people who can hold an intelligent conversation and who know how to handle disappointment. Also, I see good drivers and I am thankful that all of that stressful time of teaching them how to drive seems to have paid off.

Even though you were unsure of what you were doing, you have successfully raised two boys to adulthood. What advice do you have for new dads? 
I'm not sure. I still don't know if I have parenting figured out. But I'll give it a try. Educate yourself, but also use your common sense. Spend time with you kids and let them learn from your examples.

But here's something that Wally said the other day that may be the real key to successful parenting. He said that the best thing we did as parents was to keep trying. We'd try one thing to solve a problem and it wouldn't work. And then we'd try something else and it wouldn't work. We'd try another thing and it wouldn't work either. But finally we'd try something and it would work! He is very grateful the many times we didn't give up when it would have been a lot easier. So for new dads, I'd say, just keep trying.

Thanks. Next time I'll make an appointment and we'll have another conservation about some of the details of raising Wally and Theo.