Friday, March 25, 2011

Older Dad Blues


Good afternoon readers.  It's Spring!  It's Friday! The Sun is Shining in Seattle!  Now, if I were only able to replace the whole 'working like a dog' thing with spending time with my lovely wife and son, this would qualify as the perfect day.

Despite being inundated at the office, I am also spending time over at DadRevolution today as well.  For those of you still foggy from lack of coffee no, I haven't been cloned, but merely have a post up over there for your reading enjoyment.  It touches on the physical challenges of becoming a father at roughly he same time I turned half of 80 years old.
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Here is an excerpt:

I got a bit of a late start at being a dad. My amazing son was born at the end of June in 2007, and barely two months later I turned 40. We didn’t hold a big party for my 40th birthday party, since Mrs. LIAYF and I were still in sleep deprivation induced shock at the time. Plus, I’m not sure I would have known how to respond to not only the jokes about being over the hill, but also about how old I would be when Lukas entered High School, got married, or had kids of his own.
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Sure, there’s a lot of good natured kidding around when it comes to subject of being an older parent, but you know what? It is, at least partially anyway, based in reality. By the time you are in your 40′s - unless you are some sort of health freak – you’re slowing down considerably from your earlier days of adulthood. Heck, my parents were in their early 20′s when they had my sister, brother, and I. And although 3 kids in three years sounds rough (Mom, you were amazing), I often wonder if the dealing with 1 kid when you are 40 is roughly the same equivalent...

To read the rest, including a painful turn I took a being a 'horse', you can click here.

How about you?  At what age did you first become a parent, and how did that treat you?

8 comments:

Mrs. M said...

I was almost 32 when I had my first. Seems so young now.....

Juli said...

I was 27 and 28. Looking back, it was just the right time for me, and looking forward, they will be at the perfect ages to take with us when I get my "dream" 40th Birthday gift... a 2 week cruise in the Med.

Bottom line... you're never ready, but at every age, you give up something. Sometimes youth, sometimes energy, sometimes (most of the time) sleep. -J

BellaDaddy said...

Appreciate this post more than you can know...I was 43...and today, five years later? I look 53 LOL!

Kudos!

Barbara L said...

We were young when we had our kids. We joke we grew up with our kids! LOL

Unknown said...

Great post loved it...

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James (SeattleDad) said...

@Mighty - Yes that does to me too. A statement I once thought I would never utter.

@Julliana - So true. I bet you are looking forward to that cruise too.

@BellaDaddy - Yeah, it does age you, doesn't it? I look back at pics from just a few years ago and think, wow I have aged fast the past 4 years.

Thanks for stopping by man.

@Barbara - Probably a bit of truth in that.

@Dan - Thanks for stopping by.

Nik said...

I was actually six weeks before my 30th birthday, and despite being 10 years younger than you were, was still in sleep-deprived hell for months, and dog tired, in addition to suffering my first-ever bout of asthma, as we needed to take an older futon out of the closet for our newly expanding (Japanese) family, and it definitely was a bit dusty, and probably other asthma triggers. It definitely made the big three oh pretty meaningless. I guess that your fortieth, which can be traumatic if you have nothing better to worry about, was not the biggest thing on your mind. Great! My son is 13, just about 10 years older than yours, and believe me, it is the first 3-4 years that are both the toughest and the most rewarding.

James (SeattleDad) said...

@Nik - Toughest and most rewarding for sure. Obviously I can't predict what the next 5 - 10 will hold, but despite being worn out I am enjoying these immensely.