Marysville Parenting Examiner

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At one time I had a dream that some day I will be at home and writing full time. This vision centered around being a successfully published author of fiction. However, there is a different realization to this dream. Yes, I am at home and raising a wonderful and most adventurous daughter, I am also focused on establishing a successful writing career.

One of the areas where I am now writing for is as an Examiner at Examiner.com. More specifically, there are two columns that I write for. The first one is the Seattle Multi-Faith Examiner where I provide articles of a general interfaith dialogue and perspective. This perspective is localized for the greater Seattle, Washington area on a variety of topics that affect the faith community. The second is the Marysville Parenting Examiner where these articles are localized in content.

Concerning the latter – this column allows me to provide some insight that affect the Marysville, Washington community as to how parenting is challenging and rewarding. Already having published some articles, I am looking forward to producing more content that provides resources, advice, commentary on those things parents should be aware off as to how they affect the parent-child relationship.

One such topic is that of teen suicide. The North County Outlook had an article on Teen Suicide prevention focus of series by Sarah Arney. This piqued my interest and already have secured an interview date and time with the Everett/North Sound coordinator Jennifer Barron for an upcoming article that details the Youth Suicide Prevention Program and how Parents, Educator’s, and those involved in the sphere of influence of the youth are able to understand the signs and intervention needed to save our youth from suicide.

There is also a Facebook Fan page that will provide updated information as to what is going on with the Marysville Parenting Examiner.

This opportunity is a wonderful opportunity and am looking forward to providing engaging, timely topics that are relevant to parents in the Marysville, Washington and even other communities.

Follow me on the Facebook Fan page by Liking the page, as well as subscribing to the Marysville Parenting Examiner column at Examiner.com.

Let the new week begin

Monday has already passed and it was the last day of my wife‘s vacation. The past week she had been home from work to spend time with her son and our daughter. This coincided with my stepson being out of school for spring break. Because of this, many of my own projects, writing, and schoolwork has gone to the wayside – not because I neglected them, but because I choose to place my family first and foremost and spend time with the woman I love. In essence, I had learned alot this past week from spending time with my wife and children.

We prepared for our upcoming garage sale that we had held this past Saturday only. Despite the yelling and frustrations that occurred, we managed to pull together as a family and work on making the garage sale as productive and successful as possible. Housecleaning also became a shared work with everyone pitching in – including our now 17 month old daughter.

Now, with my stepson back in school, my wife back at work, it is just my daughter and myself managing the household.

There is much on my plate today as well and my one and only thought was – wish I had some help right now.

It is not easy being a Stay-at-Home Father. The need to go and find outside work is becoming more and more predominate. Yet, there are some barriers preventing the desire to seek out employment at this time.

Since being home with my daughter has become an every-day routine, there is the emotional attachment and connection that my daughter and I share. This is not to say that we do not share this attachment if I were to work outside of the home, because we would and have. It is a more deeper attachment that many men do not understand women have with their children as stay-at-home mothers. Because of this, it would be more difficult for the both of us if I were to suddenly return back to work. For me, because (as had experienced before), I would want to be home with my daughter and seeing her move around the house, interact with her, watch her learn new things, say new words, chase one another around the house, and just being ourselves and enjoying the rich companionship we share. My thoughts would be turned toward watching the clock in high anticipation of wanting to be home, to walk through the doors and scoop up the little princess in my arms and snuggle her.

And yet, what amazed me is that the previous week, my wife had the ability of spending some much needed mommy-daughter time. So much so that whenever I tried to get some daddy-daughter time in, my daughter preferred mom over dad. Admittedly, this did tweak my nose a bit, but it also put a smile on my face watching how my daughter and wife interacted with one another, how they snuggled together, and the special relationships mothers and daughters share.

However, the reality settles in and we are back to our regular routine where mom is at work, and my stepson is at school. Leaving my daughter and I to work together and spending some time together.

Another thing I have learned over the past week (and even then, the past few months) is that as my daughter is growing, she is seeing how I am working, how her mother is working, and how her brother is working together in maintaining the house. She is readily able to help out with household chores as much as she is able to. For instance, whenever I take out the broom to sweep up the hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining room, she has to have her own broom to help out. She also knows how to pick up her toys (after some promptings from mom and dad) and put them away where they are supposed to go.

Even more fascinating is that she has this obsession with pen’s, pencil’s, notepad’s and paper. She will keep herself entertained by busying herself with flipping the notebook paper, scribbling here and there, and then sharing with us her latest scribble creations.

And then, there is the whole independence thing. She prefers to be independent and exploring on her own. When she wants something, she will let me know in her own way, however, for the most part, she prefers to be left to her own explorations. Most of the time, she will share what she has discovered, or will come and interact with me.

Overall, the week is now underway, back to the routine, and a house to get cleaned up with homework to get done.