Hi kids. If you’re reading this, you may be wondering why your dad spends so much of his spare time blogging about your many achievements and occasional misdemeanours, when I could be doing more useful things such as assembling the latest flat-pack delivery from IKEA. Well, here are five reasons why I do.
1. A love of writing
Writing is something I have always enjoyed, from a young age.
Whether with ink and paper or a keyboard and screen, I’ve always found it easier to express myself in written rather than spoken form. Just as an artist derives joy from painting or an engineer from construction, watching words coalesce into something meaningful means a lot to me and it helps me make sense of my often chaotic thoughts
Although it has long been a pipe dream, I’ve never seriously sought to make writing my profession. But it’s a passion and a hobby, and I would always encourage you to find a way to pursue your own passions too.
2. Connecting to your world
It’s second nature to you, but blogging – and the engagement in social media that goes along with it – helps keep me connected to your online, 24/7 world.
This will sound awfully antiquated to you but we used to go home from school on a Friday afternoon and not talk to most (or indeed any) of our friends until we returned on Monday morning. Nowadays the world is very different. We can share every detail of our lives every minute of every day with hundreds if not thousands of ‘friends’, many of whom we will never meet face-to-face. This is normal to you. It’s been a massive adjustment for us.
Blogging and social media enables me to be part of this brave new world and to understand it better. Hopefully it will help me understand your lives better too.
3. Friendships and relationships
This may come as a surprise to you, but I do have a life outside of being your dad.
Blogging (and social media) help me to continue connecting with old friends who we no longer see as often as we used to. It has also enabled me to forge new relationships with fellow parents, creating a virtual community that shares tips, offers mutual support and has led to new friendships.
This helps keep me sane because, you know, you do drive your mum and me mad sometimes …
4. For my memories
Writing a blog enables me to chronicle the story of the growing relationship between a father and his children.
I haven’t lost my marbles yet – although your mum might argue otherwise. But blogging about our experiences as a family means that I’m capturing the little things for posterity.
It’s nearly eight years since Isaac was born as I write this. I can already feel some of the details slipping from my memory, even some of the things that you swear at the time you will always remember. But at least I’m capturing them in writing.
5. For your memories
Finally, this blog forms part of my legacy to you.
This is a record of our journey together and hopefully it will be of some interest and value to you in the future, as a reminder of your early life. And if for some reason I shuffle off this mortal coil early, there will be a piece of me forever online that goes beyond an archive of photos (hardly any of which I am in) and some quippy Facebook updates.
Above all, know that this blog is a labour of love. But, having read this post and (hopefully) some of the entries in this blog, you know that already.
Love,
Dad
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