Fatherhood in a Technological World – Message #44
To you it may be just a bicycle ride, but to your child it will become a life long memory.
Many of you dad’s out there will have some extra time to spend with your children this season so here’s something to think about.
For each age or phase of their development, together you will click with certain activities. Grow a sensitivity to that.
A mistake many of us parents make, you may think that because they are young and have many years ahead of them in the home, that you will have many opportunities to do those activities again.
Wrong.
You should not think of your opportunities as plentiful. Begin to adjust your thinking from “One Year being a lot of time” to “One Year means one time.”
Plan ahead together more often.
Don’t underestimate your distractions, especially if you are trying to run businesses, a major side project, or live with a time consuming job. Moreover, children learn and develop in phases and something you enjoyed together may not have the same attraction a year later, but if you more consistently do something with them, they may develop a stronger interest and connection via that activity.
It’s too easy to take your family for granted and the opportunities to connect.
The childhood years go by quickly and that is the truth.
Being a father is a big job and you’re the only one with the privilege and honor to have that responsibility and title by your children.
What it was like with my Dad (not covered in the video)
Even though my own father was usually busy running his many small businesses and wasn’t the kind of buddy-father that you hear the many kids have nowadays, what I do have is our shared experiences working together.
I spent a lot of time with him going from job site to job site, traveling by truck. Sometimes he would take the time to take me out to see an old kung-fu movie in San Francisco, those experiences were few but memorable.
We spent a lot of time working together, servicing electric cars, working on roofs, delivering parts, business road trips, or materials to valued customers, or later in his life, publishing his quarterly magazine. We would talk about whatever along the way.
Learning to drive was a big thing and he taught me how to drive at a young age so that it didn’t take much effort once got my license. What a guy, he was preparing me to drive around to job sites on my own, which I did even before I got my license! That’s cheap labor! If you wondered who that 14 or 15 year old Asian kid driving that old maroon colored Datsun pickup, that was me back in the day when today’s Google site in Mountain View, CA., was just cheap farmland.
With my dad, Dale Yee, at my going away party before I went to Navy boot camp (August 1980).
When my dad was in his early 50’s he began to enjoy running. He really got into it. Instead of going to church, he used to help set up the Sunday morning FUN Runs for Runner’s World Magazine. Mom went to church, Dad went running.
He was a paratrooper in WWII, and athletic, (although he had to rehab for a year after the war for near fatal injuries suffered in combat) so his renewed interest in fitness was not surprising. I didn’t catch on too quickly to his running because in high school before I started exercising regularly, he could run circles around me (meaning he was in much better shape) and that was no fun for me being slow. He would try to share with me some bizarre runner’s insight and I wouldn’t get it, much to his disappointment. Dad used to run almost everyday and I only ran with him in a few races and only a few times on his daily runs.
It’s hard to believe he’s been gone for almost 20 years now…1996.
Yes, as a child, you need to learn to be sensitive to your parents also. Time goes by quickly.
CY
P.S. I plan on taking next week off, so have a great Holiday and Merry Christmas!
About Fatherhood in a Technological World
Fathers of young children in today’s modern society are facing unprecedented challenges with the wave of technology allowing ever easier access to the internet. The effect on your children has and will have a great influence on their growth. As a parent, you may be feeling the anxiety of having to confront the challenges of being at the end of the rail of the powerful forces driving technology into the laps and hands of your children.
Your work is cut out for you are a father. Even though popular culture doesn’t do well to herald the value of the leadership role of men in the form of fathers, let me tell you right now, being a father in this time and age has never been more important.
Click here to read the complete pilot blog article for FTW
Use what you find that may be helpful and share some of your own insights in my comments.
Tag along for the ride and let’s see if we can cover some common ground.
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Challen Yee
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