Well, after many longs talks with and words of encouragement from RJ (all monikers will be fictional to a) preserve my friends' and family's privacy should I actually attract some readers and b) protect myself from future lawsuits from my friends and family should I attract more than some readers). So. Why blog? I like to write. Whether or not I write well, I will leave to others to judge. I like to thinks of myself as a savvy and up to date kind of guy but a lot of this web culture is beyond me. Admittedly, at times with all the terminology, blogs, threads, spoofing, etc; I feel like I imagine my late 92 year old grandmother must have felt when attempting to program the VCR. See that? VCR. No Tivo. No DVR. I just dated myself a bit and I don't consider myself that old. I just may have an old betamax tape laying around from my high school days but I can work my electronics.
So why pick to write about fatherhood? I thought about just covering being a Sports Dad. But I would get chastised by my friends for being too much like the Sports Guy, who is now a dad. We have a lot of the same interests: 24, Boston sports, Sportscenter, classic guy movies.....At one point while I was expecting my first child back in 1999, I thought about writing a book for Fathers or prospective Fathers. It would be a handbook or guide to use as a reference. Not that I think I know all about being a father or all there is to know about fatherhood. It would be sort of like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I would keep adding to it as I gathered more information.
I noticed that while my wife and I were expecting, that though we have come a long way in the birthing experience to involve the dads, we still have a long way to go. Sure, it is not like when my parents were expecting me. My father (who is absolutely my hero) drove my mother to the hospital in Boston on a cold night in December. It wasn't like the old cartoons where my Dad would be pacing in the waiting room, smoking and looking disheveled. There was no waiting room. The nuns at the hospital handed my father a brown shopping bag with my mother's clothes and told him to go home. They would call him when the baby was here.
So by those standards, we have come a long way in involving the dads in the whole birthing process. We go to birthing classes (which I know a lot of guys say they could do without). We are allowed in the delivery room. We get to see the birth in process. But how prepared are we really? What about his process is about the Dad? This is where I will get tons of grief from Moms about what they have to endure. And I agree. I still shudder at the memories of the rigors my wife had to go through. But still, shouldn't the Dads have some resources to tap? Some refuge? Some fountain of information to provide insight? Someone to bounce ideas off of? Some place or person to confide in? You know men don't even like to ask for directions, but where was the "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" book for us? Now my pal, the Great Brudini went to the opposite end of the spectrum for his guide book, entitled ""Do You Really Need That Extra Slice of Pizza?" and Other Phrases Not to Use on Your Pregnant Wife". But I think something in the middle, like a Dad's Guide for Dads is warranted. Don't you think?
So fire away. Maybe I have some answers. Maybe I don't. Maybe we all pool our thoughts and come up with some answers. Who knows?
Is this a revolutionary idea? Probably not. In this information age, there is a chat room, web page, online forum, for just about everything. But as my entrepreneurial colleague RJ would say, this is not an over-saturated market.
No comments:
Post a Comment