My oldest child recently turned 25 and the editor of our Parenting magazine asked me to write about 25 things I’ve learnt from 25 years of being a Dad. The first thing that leapt into my mind is, it gets easier. I’ve often thought that first year of your first child is probably the toughest of your life. (The last year of your life may be pretty rough, too, but I’m not there yet… I hope!). It gets easier. My wife probably got sick of me saying, ‘This is the best stage!’, but honestly I loved each stage as my kids grew up and I just thought it got better and better. That even included the Turbulent Twos and Testy Teens.
And that’s not because I’m a super parent with super kids. If you spoke to my three adult children (now 25, 22 and 21 years old), they would entertain you for a long time about my failures as a parent. Some of what they say would be exaggeration but a fair bit of it would be stingingly true. However, I see very few physical or psychological scars resulting from me dressing them in mis-matched pyjamas or occasionally yelling or letting them watch the Simpsons or any of the other crimes the experts might say I’ve committed. I think that I am proof that an average parent, who makes lots of mistakes, can still have an awesome family life.
So relax and enjoy the ride. In between the vomit, tiredness, poverty and yelling, these really are the best days of your life!