(if video doesn’t embed, here’s the link)
I am just over two months into fatherhood, so it seemed like a good time to compile some footage and post a video. I think my parenting path is pretty typical at this point. You spend years looking at all the different families, noting all the things you’ll never do to your kids, all the stupid crap you’re never going to be a part of. Soon the idea of being “independent” and “against the grain” becomes self-justifying, and, after rejecting every aspect of parenting condemned as “typical”, you start to wonder what’s left. Is there a way to be a completely unique parent? A hipster parent? Pretty soon you’re acting like a self-righteous vegetarian, a holier-than-thou asshole. And when it comes down to it, when the kid is actually here and in front of you, all of that “never see me doing that” preaching gets flushed right down. I’m taking tons of photographs, shooting video, making ga-ga sounds, and happily curtailing most of my already-voluntarily-minimal social life. Why? Because he’s amazing, this little guy, and I love him. And I’m going into parenting the same way I go into anything else in life: do what feels right and try not to be an asshole about it.