Be Aware 
Someday when your child is ready to spread his wings, will you remember that very moment when he drew his first breath, or when you held him for the first time? Will you recall being enraptured and engrossed in his entire being? What will the thoughts that run through your mind be?
Begin building a lasting treasure chest of such memories for yourself, and your child, so that even when your grey hairs emerge or memories fade, your strong commitment towards him will be visible forever.
Join Singapore’s Blogger Dads to chronicle your child’s developmental milestones, right from the time of his birth!
The Richness of Your Chronicles
1. Embrace Your Child’s Uniqueness
If you were to chronicle your child’s developmental milestones, one day, he can be awed by your expression of joy and pride towards him. It is the kind of joy and pride that overshadows his every nano-achievement , and embraces his very uniqueness. And this is the kind of knowledge that will grant him the pleasure and endurance to take him through his entire journey of life.
2. Build Upon Your Foundation of Love
Kelvin Ang, a Daddy Blogger who chronicles his son’s developmental milestones at http://daddy.nivlek.per.sg, grew up with a father who was loving and sacrificial. Building upon the love that he’d received, Kelvin now intends to build an understanding relationship with Jayden, “I’ve never been able to know what my parents were thinking when I was just a baby. The only keepsakes I have are a few yellowed photographs. On the other hand, Jayden will be able to see himself changing and growing. I’ve made it a point to take a photo of him every day.”
3. Memoir of a Life Well Lived
At the end of his career, every dad wishes that he’d spent more time with his family than on his professional obligations. Knowing this, a journal of valuable moments spent with your children will help you recognize that you have lived the good life, and you are leaving the right kind of legacy for your succeeding generation.
How Dads can Start Chronicling
1. The Right Tools
The most efficient way to chronicle is probably to use an online platform such as a blog service. Should you wish to, you have the options to keep your blog private, make it available to trusted friends and family members, or even to the general public.
Popular free services include tumblr.com, posterous.com, blogger.com and wordpress.com. The former are easier to use, but the latter are more robust in features. These services will enable you to archive your posts by categories and dates, or search for old posts.
If you’re new to blogging, it may take a week or two for you to get used to using the blogging service. However, it’s worth persevering through the initial attempts.
Kelvin advises, “Start simple, just chose a template from any of the free blogging sites and write your first post! Remember to add photos, in fact tons of them! No one can resist cute baby or child photos.”
2. Challenges
Finding time to blog is probably the biggest hurdle that all Daddy Bloggers encounter. To hurdle over this, you may want to schedule a specific day and time each week to blog without interruption.
For Kelvin, his advice is this, “Because weekday nights are tough as I’m busy… on weekends, I sometimes write a few days’ worth of posts. I then schedule these posts to be published on different days throughout the week.”
He offers, “Make friends with the rest of the Daddy Bloggers and you’ll be motivated to go on and on. Blogging daily is really tough. Just try to blog once a week and you’ll soon find yourself wanting to post and share more.”
3. Satisfaction
a. Richer Relationships Between Spouses
Kelvin’s real life experience, “My wife is always eagerly awaiting my posts, and I’ve noticed that she visits my blog daily looking for new updates! Blogging has brought us closer as we’ll discuss the posts that I’ve made and enjoy photos that I’ve snapped of Jayden.”
b. More Motivation to be an Involved Father
“Blogging has kept me thinking about work-life balance. Reading posts from other Daddy Bloggers about the fun they’ve on weekends or the stuff that they get to do with their families made me reflect -- I want to be the kind of father who’s around and involved, who’s there when he grows his first tooth and crawls his first step. I may not be as good as my wife in coaxing Jayden, but I’m constantly learning and making a point to be involved.”
Perhaps the chronicles that you post will enrich the lives of your future generations, as they learn the depth and breadth of a father’s love. Best of all, your chronicles might just reinforce the joy of your fathering journey today.
About the Author: The Dads for Life Resource Team comprises local content writers and experts, including psychologists, counsellors, educators and social service professionals, dedicated to developing useful resources for dads.
|
|
Each generation stands on the shoulders of the one before. Discover a dad's power to shape and influence future generations through the simple everyday interactions and steady investment in your child's life! It's an invaluable legacy you leave behind. Quick Reads As a dad, you have the “Father Power” to positively influence future generations. This is achieved through making steady investments in your child’s life, using your everyday interactions. Take stock of your father’s legacy to you and pass them on to your children. Celebrate your child’s life at every opportunity, with regular meals, and marking anniversaries. Bringing up kids is not easy in today’s world. There are many challenges and distractions. And while there are many books and courses that aim to help us, it is perhaps true that most of our parenting skills are often learnt from our parents. Father of three, Cheong Wing Kiat writes. Here is a snapshot of fathers in Singapore from the 1910s to present day. What has affected them through the decades? What was life as a father like in the past? Take these snippets and share your memories with your children, or ask your own dad or granddad about the days of old. Chronicling the birth and life of your child is a worthwhile endeavour. The returns to your child and to you will surprise you. Find tips on how to make this an easy and rewarding activity. Very much like running a marathon, fathering is a journey that requires commitment, discipline and preparedness. Even when you “hit the wall”, stay in the race by reminding yourself of the motivation for fathering: unconditional love, that is expressed in a willingness to persevere. Thereafter, you will run past “the wall”, find your “second wind” and a new joy in fathering.
Have a thought or insight? Read more and talk on this Theme here! |
