This Stay-at-Home Dad of 4 Blogs Candidly About Parenting Fails and Triumphs
Get to know this aspiring actor turned NYC stay-at-home dad
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How did you get involved in blogging about parenting?
It’s a long story, but here it is in a nutshell. My blog began over eight years ago while I was feeling my creative juices drying up. I was an actor and a playwright before becoming a dad, but since becoming an at-home parent, I had stopped creating. Since I was a stay-at-home dad in New York City, I felt I have a different life than most men. To be honest, I had never read a blog up until that time. I began writing and told everyone I had started a website. It was many months into blogging when I joined the NYC Dads Group and met Matt Schneider and Lance Somerfeld. It was Matt who informed me I was a blogger. He invited me to a Dad 2 Summit event and that’s really when my blog began taking shape.
What’s your favorite place in the New York City area to bring your kids?
Governors Island is my favorite place to take kids. The island feels removed from NYC and is quiet. You can ride bikes, fly a kite, explore New York history, and have picnic with a skyline backdrop.
What is your favorite time of year in NYC?
Fall is my favorite time of year in every city because the summer heat is gone, and the frigid winter has yet to set in. I can watch my son play soccer on his high school team and not sweat it out or freeze.
Also, you can’t beat Central Park during the fall. The orange-tinted leaves and the crunching sounds beneath our feet as we explore the park might be my favorite parenting NYC moment. Also, on a windy day in Central Park, you can play “catch the leaves” with your kids and it wears them out and helps putting them to bed easier.
What is the best thing about raising kids in the New York City area?
Donation-based museums. Living in NYC is expensive, but fun outings in NYC for residents is cheap. Where else can you see priceless works of art (I know there is a price, but saying “priceless” sounds better) dinosaur bones, museum activities, etc. all for cheap?
What do you think is a parent’s hardest job?
Besides not screwing up humans? Parenting is as hard as you let it be and that’s the hardest part. Not letting things get to you or slow you down. Kids get mad, they get hurt, they say things they shouldn’t, and we all too often feel like a failure when those things happen. We’re in charge of a precious gift and feel we dropped the ball. Hardest part is accepting what is and moving beyond it. Making things right and better. This is why bedtime is my favorite part of the day. All can be made right at bedtime. Forgiveness and the hope of a better day the next.
