The Dad Blog
Walk a Little Slower Daddy
Editor’s Note: NYC Dads Group member and blog contributor Ed Yau shares why he’ll be celebrating this Father’s Day.
One brief seminal event at 12:38 am on June 11 made my week and perhaps the next 5 years. My son got into our first choice for public Pre-K. I wish I could say that we have been rewarded for the months of hard work researching, touring, talking and even building an app. But, I know the truth is we just got really lucky. My excitement and relief was pure, unadulterated and I woke the house up. Now it’s onto the next challenge of nurturing our son’s development because that is all that matters.
Our son is all that matters. It may be a parenting cliché, but my son’s well-being, is my being. His development and future is my mission. My responsibility. It’s the Prime Directive. With respect to Mom: I don’t need to say how important you are, but raising our child is not your job to do alone. The mothers at pre-school who don’t bother making eye contact with me may not share this same view, but I don’t care. Their approval and acceptance is not my Prime Directive.
I remember the first Father’s day card I ever received, courtesy of my son’s pre-school. The poem started:
Walk a little slower, Daddy,
Said a little child so small.
I’m following in your footsteps
And I don’t want to fall.
Said a little child so small.
I’m following in your footsteps
And I don’t want to fall.
This may be a well-known poem, but it was the first time I had read it. Was the school trying to tell me not to suck at being a father? Did the author think that fathers need some kind of reminder not to leave their kids behind? I quickly moved on from my defensive knee-jerk reaction and appreciated the message of the poem and its cuteness. As if I needed a reminder?
I’ll never send back an opportunity to celebrate Father’s Day. I enjoy being acknowledged and appreciated just like anyone else. To me, fatherhood is more than an experience that has made me a better person. Fatherhood is a duty to do the best for my son. With all that’s going on in the movement of Stay-at-Home and involved dads, I am glad to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Cheers to Us. Happy Father’s Day!
Edward Yau is a geek dad that writes code for his kid. You can see his projects at Dendro Kids [http://www.dendrokids.com] and Guess Your Baby [http://www.guessyourbaby.com]. Follow Ed on twitter @daddycoder.
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