#143: My Parenting Regression

The Story Behind My Parenting Regression

Becoming a parent was never really in the forefront of my mind growing up or even as I was charging through young-adulthood. Parenthood always seemed like some distant thing that would eventually happen and didn't require much immediate attention. Now, after being a professional dad for a few years I can confidently say that I was right, no amount of though or practice or advice or books could have prepared me for being a dad!

I try to make a point of being an encouraging person. I like to celebrate victory, progress, success. I've especially noticed with our daughter I have a habit of pointing out and celebrating small things: putting toys away, taking off shoes and placing them in the cubby, correctly identifying colors, numbers and letters - and, of course, successfully going pee in the potty. Potty training can be extremely difficult, or extremely easy; every kid is different. Something I've noticed myself doing recently is loudly proclaiming when I need to use or have just used the restroom. I guess subconsciously I hope our daughter will pick up the habit? But when I stop to think about it, it is super weird.

I've spent the majority of my life studying to become an expert at many things; computer science, math, machine learning. One thing I am most certainly not an expert at is a potty-training a toddler, and I am OK with that.

Plain Text Description of My Parenting Regression

A male stick figure enters a playroom where a female stick figure and a child stick figure are playing. The male stick figure proudly proclaims, "I would like everyone to know...I just went pee in the potty!". With hands raised high, the child exclaims, "Yay Daddy!" and the female encourages, "Good job!".