Board Of DADvisors? (BODv)

You're probably trying to figure out what I’m talking about here. The answer is this, it’s a board of advisors for dads. An advisory board's goal is to provide assistance, advice, and expertise. Hmm, let me think what is a lifelong field that provides the same service? To quote Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown (Doc) “Great Scott” I may have just dated myself there, Fatherhood.

Parenting is not an easy feat and it’s continuous, As parents at times, we can lose the sense of self and become stagnant in our parenting routine. I myself have entered a few “zones” that follow each other.

First, there is the waiting zone. In this zone, I am just waiting for my children to do something to put themselves in an unfavorable, yet sometimes comical situation. For example, when my oldest was 3 years of age and the middle child was 2 years of age, they went to go play in the toy room.

I went to do my “Dad” thing, cleaning, kitchen karaoke, and preparing their lunch. I soon realized it was quiet, a little too quiet for my liking. I walk upstairs and to see what was going on and I found them in the bathroom covered in baby powder, I held back my laughter to focus on the reasoning why. I asked my eldest child, what happened, why aren’t you in the toy room? My son looks me in the face and states, we were but we decided to be ghosts. All could do was laugh and clean them up.

This is followed by the “defeatism zone”. In this zone, I feel defeated and my optimism is put on the back burner and I wonder if I were hankering for a perfect moment. That mindset eases me right into the “mull zone. This is where I would grab either a glass of wine or a bottle of my favorite root beer and mull over the events of that day.

Then I begin to wonder. Have other dads endured this kind of day? How effective was I today? What were the takeaways from the day and will tomorrow bring more of the same? Most importantly, one glass or two.

While Mothers are assumed to have a natural instinct for parenting, my focus is on Dads. I felt I could benefit from the insight, challenges, and expertise from other Dads. How cool would it be to have a Board of DADvisors? I thought.

As I was forming a list of potential members, I would consider the following: Our introduction and the rapport that was built, The interactions with his family, myself, and others. I also looked at the age of his children.

Once I finalized my list, I gave each potential member a call giving them insight on “BODv” along with what I wanted to accomplish for my Dad Growth. Each person I selected was elated and honored to become a member. We converse weekly about life, fatherhood, cooking ideals & much more. A few of us even nicknamed ourselves the “Puddle Jumpers” that's a story for another time.

Every BODv member will not be the same. He will bring his own thought process, best practices, experience, and expertise. The commonality will be the inclination to assist in your dad and personal growth.