I can't wait to be a father. I will say though, I've only started to feel this way in the last year or so. I'll be 28 this year, my fiancee will be 25 and we're hoping to start having kids within the next 3 years.
As for the type of father that I'll likely be. All I can say is that I hope I'm a lot like my father was. My Dad was a very hands on, active father when we were little kids, he would play with us, tell us stupid stories etc. As we got older, he gradually became more of an advisor to us. As little kids, we were given fairly basic chores to do and not much beyond that. When we hit our early teens, summers became about working and earning our own keep. I had my first summer job when I was 13. My father is a very alpha type personality but in his own way. He's incredibly likeable, an extremely hard worker and a natural leader but he's very laid back and quiet. The strong, silent type I guess. Because of that, he didn't teach my brother and I much about women at all.
I will strive to be like that. I want to be active in my kids lives when they are little. I want to teach them how to read, how to do math, how the world works etc. I don't want to get involved in their social lives and have to associate with all of their friends parents. I also don't want to be present at all of their sports games. They should learn to feel a sense of accomplishment on their own and not seek validation through my approval. That home run should feel just as good whether or not I was there to witness it.
Growing up, it was just my brother and I, no sisters. If I have a daughter, I will really need to think about how to properly raise her. I would obviously encourage her to pursue intellectual activities as well as get involved with sports; stuff to keep her out of trouble. I think I would have to repeatedly stress the importance of valuing herself. My fiancee, for example, didn't sleep with me for the first six weeks of our relationship and made me show her a negative STD test until we started having sex. That's a woman who values herself. I would hope my daughter grows up with the same values as that.
As for the type of father that I'll likely be. All I can say is that I hope I'm a lot like my father was. My Dad was a very hands on, active father when we were little kids, he would play with us, tell us stupid stories etc. As we got older, he gradually became more of an advisor to us. As little kids, we were given fairly basic chores to do and not much beyond that. When we hit our early teens, summers became about working and earning our own keep. I had my first summer job when I was 13. My father is a very alpha type personality but in his own way. He's incredibly likeable, an extremely hard worker and a natural leader but he's very laid back and quiet. The strong, silent type I guess. Because of that, he didn't teach my brother and I much about women at all.
I will strive to be like that. I want to be active in my kids lives when they are little. I want to teach them how to read, how to do math, how the world works etc. I don't want to get involved in their social lives and have to associate with all of their friends parents. I also don't want to be present at all of their sports games. They should learn to feel a sense of accomplishment on their own and not seek validation through my approval. That home run should feel just as good whether or not I was there to witness it.
Growing up, it was just my brother and I, no sisters. If I have a daughter, I will really need to think about how to properly raise her. I would obviously encourage her to pursue intellectual activities as well as get involved with sports; stuff to keep her out of trouble. I think I would have to repeatedly stress the importance of valuing herself. My fiancee, for example, didn't sleep with me for the first six weeks of our relationship and made me show her a negative STD test until we started having sex. That's a woman who values herself. I would hope my daughter grows up with the same values as that.