Selfishness is not always what it seems.

My wife sent me a link to a great article the other day, titled Prioritizing your fitness isn’t selfish – it’s necessary by Eric C. Stevens. You can read it here; the general idea of the article is talking about peoples health and how some people may think that they are being selfish when looking after their bodies, whether its the fear of neglecting their friends and social status or even ignoring their part as a mother or a father. When I was a personal trainer my moto was ‘We are only given one body, look after it’ and I still stand by this. I love the gym, as does my other half, we love training and keeping fit, but we know that some people don’t enjoy the gym, or keeping fit, or being active which is their choice.

The issue comes when people start commenting on how often we go to the gym, or train, or how we prioritize looking after ourselves. Some people feel that this isn’t as important as work, career or family, and they are right, to some extent. (Before any arguments start I am not talking about anyone in particular, just people in general) We are told that we need to put effort into work, into our career, to make the most out of that opportunity, but why can’t we do that for our health? As I said, we only have one body and it’s true, we need to take care of it. Why is that selfish? To some I guess they feel that the gym is a luxury, something that we don’t need, but we do need food and shelter and family and money.

Looking forward to some father daughter time.

So I have done a couple of posts in the past about things I would like to share with my daughter, such as films, things I want to teach her and things people can do with their children (you can read them all here; Things to do for your children, Films I want my children to watch and Things I want to (hopefully) teach my children) but this post is about the things I am looking forward to doing with my daughter, some father and daughter time.

Having a friend who recently had a baby daughter, I am defiantly looking forward to some father and daughter play dates with said father. However we both have agreed our children have no hope and will be the most embarrassed children whenever me and said father get together, I can not wait. So here are some of the things that I am looking forward to doing when our daughter ever decides to show her face. I recon she’s popped a finger out, felt how cold it was and thought ‘it’s warm and cozy in here, best stay in till spring.’

Inspired by a fellow blogger – who had a great idea.

So just reading things that come up when you type in certain tags, and this time under the fatherhood tag I searched for, I found a wonderful post on the blog – A Daddy’s walk. His post, Left Hand Day, is a great idea and it made me think of other similar ideas that you can use on your own children as they grow up. As adults we take for granted things that we can do, or can’t do, and we forget along the way of growing up and growing old that we can change some habits or start new habits, all it takes is our brain to remember to do this.

In the post, Left Hand Day (if you haven’t read it, take a moment, it’s only a short post) the blogger explains that he and his other half are right handed, and that he feels that maybe he could have used his left hand a bit more often. This is where his children come in and in an attempt to help them feel more comfortable using their less dominant hand, he has introduced Left Hand Day. And this is a great idea, and I wanted to share other ideas that could work, along the same lines as Left Hand Day. 

Things to do for your children – Part 1.

So this is the first multiple blog I have written, this is only due to the fact I may come up or find more ideas along the way and will want to share them with you. Likewise, you may give me some cool ideas that I will want to share (giving you credit of course). I saw something on the wonderful world wide web of mystery and lies, which I thought was really cool, a great idea for you to do before you children have grown up.

I have also seen funny ideas which I may share one day but I wanted to share a few ideas I had seen or had that I want to do for my children. These may be things that you start now for them to enjoy when they reach a certain age, or things you wished you had done when you were little or just simple ideas from the inter-web that I like and will no doubt steal and use when raising my own children. But hey, that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Borrowing other peoples ideas and trying to make them work with your own little bundles of joy.

What will she grow up to be? I can not wait to see.

Wow, that sounded like a Dr. Seuss quote, but it was on my mind the other day, while driving home from work. Obviously there are many things that I can not wait to experience with my new bundle of joy, from their first finger squeeze, to their first word, to their first steps, you get the idea, the typical things that all parents are excited to see and experience. However, I began wondering what my child will become?

We all remember wanting to be something when we were younger, if you don’t think you did, you did your just too embarrassed to say what it was. In fact as a kid, I changed career so often it was hard to keep track. I do remember wanting to be a tennis player at some point in my childhood, but other than that, know idea. (I am sure my parents have a better idea). So it got me thinking about the future of my child, and what she will become. 

Giving up the things you love – do you really have to?

Since announcing that I am expecting a bundle of joy I have been inundated with information, tips, advice and knowledge, some useful, some not so useful but the one thing that has stuck, as it’s been mentioned to me a couple of times is, ‘You’re expecting? That’s fantastic news, say goodbye to all the things you love doing.’ This is followed by a chuckle, a smile, a slap on the shoulder or even all three.

Now, I have a lot of loves in this world mostly involving doing something physical or sporty, as well as creative things like writing and designing. I struggle to find time to do everything I love now, so I do expect that when our child blesses us with her presence then my time to do these will quickly diminish even more. But does that mean I have to give up the things that I love?