Yes, it is true. Over the past few months I've become increasingly aware of how being in a fraternity has prepared me for fatherhood. Although the list is quite long, I'm sharing just a few here for your enjoyment.
How Much (You/Your Baby) Drinks Matters
In college, you could often hear people talking about how much they could drink or the favorite concoction they could stir up with all sorts of ingredients. Similarly, I find myself these days spending significant amounts of time talking about how much milk my son has had. Was that a breast-fed meal? Or did we pump? How much was in that bottle? To put this in perspective, I haven't counted this many bottles since I was a pledge. These days, I ask when was my son's last bottle was so often you might think he was in AA.
(Side note: Breast vs bottle is like discussing drinking beer from a tap or a can. Clearly for the former is better, but in a pinch either one will do.)
Pee Shows Up In Odd Places
I had a friend in college who everyone enjoyed going out with and at the end of the night if he crashed at your place there was a 1 in 3 chance you would find urine on your couch. I have another buddy who was notorious for sleep walking and thinking your closet/chair/computer/[insert any object here] was a toilet. Along the same lines, my son has an amazing ability to have his pee show up in pretty much every place other than his diaper. We've found it in our bed, on our clothes, on his head (see an earlier post), on our arms, his carseat, his play mat, and the list goes on. Although I knew the risks associated of hanging out with my unnamed buddies in college, I accepted them because the memories created were worth it. The same goes with my son. The lesson here is not trying to find a way to avoid it, but rather it is best to just accept that it will happen.
Nobody Sleeps
Living in the fraternity house, you pretty much sign away your rights to have any sleep. Sometimes that lack of sleep is by choice, but many times it is not. The same can be said about being a dad. Everyone hears about the sleepless nights because of a crying baby and the stumbling through work that ensues the following day. But one of the hidden pleasures of being a dad are the nights you spend awake by choice. They come in various forms whether it be late night chats with my wife about how crazy it is that we're parents or time spent researching the color of my son's poo to make sure he's not allergic to something. My favorite, though, it just watching my son sleep. There is something about watching his small chest go up and down with each breath, hearing him giggle in his dreams (yep, that happens), or sigh in deep satisfaction as he finds that perfect sleeping position. In those moments, I think about what kind of man he will grow up to be, the role I play as his father, the (hopefully) many goals he will score as a soccer player...you know, all the important stuff.
So there you have it, a few ways this "frat boy" has taken lessons of college-past and leveraged them into life lessons of a new dad.
How Much (You/Your Baby) Drinks Matters
In college, you could often hear people talking about how much they could drink or the favorite concoction they could stir up with all sorts of ingredients. Similarly, I find myself these days spending significant amounts of time talking about how much milk my son has had. Was that a breast-fed meal? Or did we pump? How much was in that bottle? To put this in perspective, I haven't counted this many bottles since I was a pledge. These days, I ask when was my son's last bottle was so often you might think he was in AA.
(Side note: Breast vs bottle is like discussing drinking beer from a tap or a can. Clearly for the former is better, but in a pinch either one will do.)
Pee Shows Up In Odd Places
I had a friend in college who everyone enjoyed going out with and at the end of the night if he crashed at your place there was a 1 in 3 chance you would find urine on your couch. I have another buddy who was notorious for sleep walking and thinking your closet/chair/computer/[insert any object here] was a toilet. Along the same lines, my son has an amazing ability to have his pee show up in pretty much every place other than his diaper. We've found it in our bed, on our clothes, on his head (see an earlier post), on our arms, his carseat, his play mat, and the list goes on. Although I knew the risks associated of hanging out with my unnamed buddies in college, I accepted them because the memories created were worth it. The same goes with my son. The lesson here is not trying to find a way to avoid it, but rather it is best to just accept that it will happen.
Nobody Sleeps
Living in the fraternity house, you pretty much sign away your rights to have any sleep. Sometimes that lack of sleep is by choice, but many times it is not. The same can be said about being a dad. Everyone hears about the sleepless nights because of a crying baby and the stumbling through work that ensues the following day. But one of the hidden pleasures of being a dad are the nights you spend awake by choice. They come in various forms whether it be late night chats with my wife about how crazy it is that we're parents or time spent researching the color of my son's poo to make sure he's not allergic to something. My favorite, though, it just watching my son sleep. There is something about watching his small chest go up and down with each breath, hearing him giggle in his dreams (yep, that happens), or sigh in deep satisfaction as he finds that perfect sleeping position. In those moments, I think about what kind of man he will grow up to be, the role I play as his father, the (hopefully) many goals he will score as a soccer player...you know, all the important stuff.
So there you have it, a few ways this "frat boy" has taken lessons of college-past and leveraged them into life lessons of a new dad.
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