This slideshow requires JavaScript.
***photos by Benjamin Lopez***
When I was in graduate school, one of my good friends, a father, practicing doctor, and fellow MPH student, told me something rather prescient:
You can’t be 100% at everything you do. You can’t be a great student, a great doctor, AND a great father. One of them has to give. You just have to make sure it’s the right one.
I always knew those words were true, but now, as a father myself (and a particularly busy one at that) I see the wisdom in them. A full time job, training for triathlons, working on papers and graduate school applications, and being the type of dad and husband I want to be… well, one of them has to give. So which one? In this case, it was work. I dropped from 100% to 80%, meaning from 40 hours a week to 32 hours a week, thus giving me an extra 4 hours a week to train, and an extra 4 hours to spend with the kiddo, that beautiful kiddo that is the theme of the slideshow up there. We’ll see how this goes (or if something else has to give as well…).
Verrrry cute kid and kudos for striking some work/life balance. My husband’s working about 70 hours a week, and will have some business travel in the coming two months. It’s ideal to think he can make up for lost time with a nice Saturday with the family, but more steady facetime, like perhaps committing to dinner together a couple times a week, would be better, right? Will keep reading your posts!
I wouldn’t say I stuck a balance… just that that is the goal. Thanks for the vote of confidence though!
And you are right in your implication there, that its more about quality time than quantity, whether with the husband or the kiddo.
You seem pretty busy (and your husband obviously is). How do you strike a balance?
I make him commit to time together when we can foresee his schedule getting really busy. We also do not use gadgets at the dinner table. We look into each other’s eyes, talk, and make the minutes together count. We also Skype when possible. Neat-o!