The Blogfathers

I’m nearing the end of my six months on paternity leave and for the past few months wife’s been calling me names and commenting on some of my more extreme parenting habits. “Crazy”, “nuts”, “death wish”, and “maniac” are words that often pop up. She says I’m a borderline psycho S/M father. She’s not talking about the high heeled boots and thong in the bedroom it in a sexual kind of way, my passion for kids is apparently quite strong….. . What kind of father voluntarily seeks out the most difficult situations possible with his kids?

My wife knew I was weird early on when I often took our young colic/acid reflux nagging baby daughter and older son on the subway and bus into town during weekends. Baby Björn, Mountain Buggy Urban Double, a bicycle in summer or snowracer in winter, plus two kids, was always quite an adventure. My son loves trains so we would hang out at the train station for hours just looking at trains and occasionally getting to board some locomotives. Finish up with lunch at a nice restaurant, a ride back home, a nap, and the kids were happy. So was the wife who surely needed a five hour break but was curious how we made the trip so effortless.

Our son goes to day-care 9am-3pm most days and has made many friends. One day he asked if a friend could come along for a play session afterwards. So I thought why not? I started calling parents asking if I could borrow their child for a few hours to play with our son (and young daughter). I would pick them up, walk home, play for a few hours, dinner was optional, and parents could come for pick up whenever suited. Parents and kids have been ecstatic about our play sessions. Only problem has been our popularity at school. As soon as I and my daughter Annika pick up our son, there are at least 10 kids asking to come along. My wife calls me crazy, isn’t two kids enough?

Turns out my kids and I enjoy hospitals. I voluntarily handle all hospital and doctors visits. Wife usually flaps like a salmon so it works out well. Doesn’t matter if it’s vaccine shot or emergency room, I like to be there and have both kids with me. Latest visit was daughters UTI combined with a kidney infection. It’s a great way to test the bond with your little one when a nurse inserts a tube and squirts radioactive material, then asks her to pee. We had a great time during our 6 hour visit, you can have so much fun at the hospital! My son thanked me for days since all the doctors let him play with their equipment. My wife called me insane since I insisted on bringing our son along as well.

Me and my kids love to do practical things together. They are less enthusiastic about a visit to a water park than going shopping together. Last week I needed some crappy and boring things for the household so we headed for my least favorite place on earth, Ikea. Wife begged me to go alone but I told her to go get a massage or watch photos of Brad Pitt. Have you been to Ikea on a Sunday around noon? It’s a like New Years Eve in Times Square. We did some meaningless shopping and had lunch in the restaurant with a million other people. Wife calls me completely insane. But we did have a nice time.

Toy stores are great when you need to buy stuff, my kids enjoy them even if we just look around. Once a week I keep my son at home from day-care and we ride the subway or bus into town. My children love public transportation. We usually end up at some huge toy store in town and the kids have a blast. But there are lots of tempting toys and the inevitable question is always if we can’t buy pretty much everything in the store? We’re just looking today, that’s usually enough to make the kids understand we are not buying anything. But it can be a bit challenging when the kids run in different directions at the same time and the little one tears down 50 toys per aisle.

Snow sounds horrible to many parents but my kids love it. The possibilities for fun are endless. Last winter our daughter was just an infant but deep snow and snowracer is a favorite of our son. I would explore the neighborhood slopes with my son while my daughter slept in the carriage or sat in the Baby Bjorn. Wife calls me a psycho since most other parents parked their kids in front of a DVD.Having long winters means switching tires twice a year. Perfect time to bring the kids along for adventures in the garage. It takes three times as long and can be kind of stressful. What’s more frustrating than spending an hour searching for the wheel bolts your 14 month old hid somewhere?

Some of our friends work a lot so I voluntarily look after their kids. Its quite a site seeing me with a Baby Bjorn, double carriage, my son and two more kids on bikes exploring the neighborhood. I knew I would be grateful for my thousands of hours at the gym when I had kids…

My wife doesn’t like doing grocery shopping with the kids but I kind of enjoy it. Spending a couple of hours doing the bi-weekly shopping can occasionally be challenging since my kids like to “help out”. But it’s always a nice time together. The store has a kids playroom but my son prefers to make sure daddy doesn’t screw up the shopping instead.

I think my stubbornness for including the kids in many everyday activities has a lot to do with my thoughts about parenting. Long before I had kids I always thought about enjoying life with my children, not leaving them behind. Besides, I have so far found seemingly boring everyday situations being the best way to build a close bond.

I can’t be the only one doing somewhat crazy things to bond with my kids. What kind of crazy stuff do you do to have fun, get stuff done, and bond with the kids at the same time?

Spring Cleaning, Action, Parenting Mysteries, Parenting Challenges, Family Fun!, Parenting