The Golden Hours
By
on
January 27th, 2008
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Parenting can be a real guilt trip. Most people I know don't spend anywhere near enough time with their kids. It's never a question about not being able, it's always about priorities. And the priorities are rarely there which leads to guilt. I've so far spent a tremendous amount of time with my kids but regardless how well things are going I can't help feeling a little guilty about the evenings. When the kids are a asleep and the golden hours begin.
I treasure the time between 8 and 12 pm. Kids are asleep and I can often do whatever I want. No one needs my immediate attention, wife can usually wait for at least 8.5 seconds, I can relax and get ready for the next day. Working out, drinking wine, listening to music, internet, and sex watching a DVD are things that help me wake up every morning as a motivated and patient father. I like waking up like this, with focus on my kids like it's a Wimbledon final.
I do feel guilty about this though. Here I am taking 6 month of paternity leave (not once but twice), working short Wall Street hours, and spending every moment of my 7 week vacation with the kids. Yet, the best moment of my day is after they go to sleep. Seems ironic.
What motivates and/or helps you wake up every morning as a superb parent?
Nothing wrong with enjoying the quiet.
I know exactly what you mean. I look forward to the 8 o’clock hour just like you. Except my quiet only lasts until about 9:30. That’s about how late I can stay up these days.
It’s only human to need downtime for yourself as well. For us, we only have one child, raising Erik is hard work though, especially when he’s in his “Terrible 2’s”, a bit more independent but yet still very much a baby. So when he requests to go to bed, we are like “Wow, okay!”
However, every morning, Erik’s bright eyes and big warm smile just melts our hearts up! Chhimi is not even a morning person but for Erik, he is! Our son is our motivation to be “superb” parents every minute of our day. He really lights up our world. Some days we feel great and believe we’re awesome parents and some days we don’t but will try again the next.