Our family is far from perfect

Me and my kids... we’re not a perfect family. In fact, our family is far from perfect. We’re not even ideal. We’re just like other family – NORMAL.

We have our falling out every now and then. I shout at my kids and they answer back, always. You can say that we have an ‘open communication.’

But it’s not always Royal Rumble or a debate session going on in our house. We goof up too, a lot times. Sometimes, even at a midst of a quarrel. Maybe that’s beyond normal, but it happens.

Still, as the saying goes... I couldn’t ask for any other kids. Of course, there would always be the wish that I could have been a better father to them.

The kitchen is not my domain

Modesty aside, I used to be a good cook. No, make that a great cook – that was according to my wife.

When she was still with us, and I would be cooking, my dish would always turn out good, if not perfect... and it was not just my word.

But like what I said, that was when she was still here with us. Now, I seem to be an alien in the kitchen. I can’t seem to make heads or tails. Really, the kitchen is not my domain.

Easily, I could always ask her before. I would know what to do next, which ingredients to put in first, what are the signs that I would be looking for – boiling, smoke, browning, burning... err, how many minutes, I mean. Just like having a backseat driver, although it was most welcomed and much need.

Oh no!!! I have a teenager for a daughter!!!

NOTE: This post was written in March 2011, when my only daughter turned 13. It was one of the earlier post in my old Single Fatherhood blog.

Last January, my daughter turned 13. Yes, I know. That was already two months ago. Well, it didn't sink in on me then yet. She was still a baby then… I’d like to think that she still is.

There were apprehensions, sure. At the back of my mind, paranoia was stubbornly bugging me. I was trying my best to brush it off. How bad could it be? I mean, she was not the first teenager in the house! She was the third, actually.

But she was the only girl… and the youngest. Yes, her brothers didn't bring me much concern when they turned 13. I refuse to be bitten by the double standards of child rearing… nothing could go wrong!

Or could it?

Single Fatherhood

While single parents are quite common today, single fathers are still a rarity compared to their female counterparts. The first reason being, it is most common that it is the man who abandons thus leaving the woman on her own (and I’m not exactly proud of it).

The second reason is that, single fathers do not really stay as such for long. For a lot of reason, one being men could not really live on their own for so long. Yes, we can all blame it on our mothers who used to do everything for us – even finding that missing pair of socks.

Another reason for their rarity in existence is perhaps, not many single fathers would admit that they are such. While not all would really deny their status, some, especially the younger ones would readily do so when they are in front of a woman they seem to have their eye on.

Of course, these are not all the reasons, and neither are they absolute. There could be more, and a much deeper explanation for them. These are just what I could recall at the top of my head right now.

This is my first post for this blog, and  these are what entered my mind. Being a single father for more than four years, I wonder why there weren’t too many single fathers with whom I can share experiences with.

And so this post introduces my new blog, Single Fatherhood, as a take on the life and assume the role of a father and a mother.

This is single parenting… from a man’s point of view.