“When you keep making that effort there is no bad day as a parent, just some times that are leading you to the better times”
Well, it’s come around again – our dadhood insights! We’re pretty excited to be bringing you all this one. This month we sat down with Riki, a proud dad of two kids who are experts in being awesome and making everyone around them feel awesome.
Needless to say, we’re big fans.
How are you different or similar to your dad?
Our personalities are fairly similar – we’ve both got this patience, calmness and ability to not overreact to situations. We are really similar as people and personalities… but our approach to parenting is completely different.
Due to running a restaurant, Dad wasn’t around much, so most of the parenting came from Mum. Dad was the softer one. The one who would take me to Maccas and say, “Don’t tell your mum!”.
Has this changed how you are as a dad?
With Al and I, there isn’t a difference between our styles in parenting – we are a team and work together for the kids. Our philosophies and beliefs in raising our kids is in sync because we make time every so often to touch base. Whenever there is a difference we wait until we’re away from the kids to chat, sort it out and get back on track.
How do you learn how to be a dad?
When in doubt, check out How to Dad. Funny and helpful!
Usually when my brother and I catch up with our kids there are always little things I notice and see him doing that I take on and make my own. There is never any really formal chat, just more of a touching base to see how things are, what’s been working and what new curve ball the kids are throwing at him.
What makes a dad ‘successful’?
You can’t be successful without the person or people you have around you. You need to know where you stand on things, where your partner stands on things and be willing to listen. I can’t be successful unless Al is too. It isn’t about being just a dad to me – it’s like footy, we’re a team.
Over my years of dadhood I’ve learned how to pick my battles and step away from others that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Parenting isn’t always great at times, but I choose a mindset that sees those infrequent bad parts of a day as all part of being a dad.
When you keep making that effort there is no bad times as a parent, just some tougher times that are leading you to the better times.
What is the most challenging part of being a dad?
You’ve got to try to be as proactive as possible…reacting to even little things can throw off your consistency. I’ll try to think to myself, what does a yes or a no right now mean in the short, mid and long-term?
I’m always trying to consider what I want them to become…actually, no it’s more about what sort of person I hope they can become.
Finally, a dad’s role is to…
keep the balance.
(See, we told you he was a genius and all round legend).
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