Things that change when you become a Dad.

A short list (somewhat tongue in cheek):

  • Projects?  What projects?  Doing things around the house becomes very hard.
  • Waking up at 7am or earlier seems normal.
  • Going to sleep at 10pm seems normal.
  • Video games?  Hah!  Wait until the kids can play with you.  ETA: 4 years from birth
  • Blogging?  Only while at work!
  • Music?  Your new favorites will be everything from Putumayo, or “100 toddler favorites”.    That’s about as hip as it gets.
  • Your dinner time will now be 5pm.
  • Touching poop won’t seem like that big of a deal anymore.
  • All bodily functions will be discussed in some great detail.
  • A fun way to spend Saturday afternoon will be going to play on the slides at the playground.
  • Going for a bike ride now means riding for 10  minutes to the nearest playground.
  • Thou shalt not leave the house without: Water, Goldfish crackers, juice, diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, 3 matchbox cars, 2 board books, 2 pacifiers, a hat and several jackets and coats.

Some last minute adds:

  • You’ll likely not shave every day, through a combination of “oh my god he’s going to swallow that shampoo I better go get him” and “oh my god I’m so tired if I don’t shave I can sleep for 3 more minutes and still be on time”
  • Putting in an 8-hour work day will become hard, and seem like somewhat of a chore.
  • You’ll begin to “essentialize” everything.  Do you really need to wipe that up right now?  Do you really want to spend the next 20 minutes re-wiring the home theater?  Etc.
  • Meals will be designed around how easy they are to eat using no utensils at all.
  • You’ll start considering statements like “Ok. Day. Bye” as a genuine conversation.  (i.e. “Okay, I’m going to work now, Have a good day, bye bye!”)
  • You’ll realize that nearly every surface of your house has been covered in either (sour) milk, (sour) formula or baby urine.
  • You’ll think baby urine is clean and not really worry about how it kinda gets all over everything.

What’s on your list?

One Response to “Things that change when you become a Dad.”

  1. [...] Lacy on BayDad made a nice list of ways in which his life has changed after having two small children. I have one thing to [...]

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