Does anyone else see what I’m seeing?

About

Like most young men, I once had a certain idealized picture of what adulthood, marriage and fatherhood would look like.  It was based on images and ideas that we’re all force-fed as we grow up and I never questioned it…until it dawned on me that I was not going to live that imagined life.

I became the husband.  I became the father.  And then?  Then three years ago,  my marriage collapsed (have a look through the archives) and none of the ‘normal’ images fit anymore.  It was confusing, enlightening, terrifying and liberating  all at once.  Ex-Wife and I chose the co-parenting route and came to terms with the strange cycle of being  committed super-dad one week and childless bachelor the next.

Years after, I fell in love with a fantastic single-mom and we made a little blended family.  I thought the comfort of univerally recognizable images would return… but they haven’t.  And I don’t expect them to ever again.  Good riddence.

I am part of a new generation of divorced fathers who don’t see themselves as fitting into the old paradigm.   These next generation divorcees  are not satisfied with being part-time dads that ‘visit’ their children instead of ‘parent’ them.   New generation fathers  have step-child(ren) and rail against the love-less step-dad stereotype by learning to understand, bond with and love their step-child(ren) like they do their own.

This blog is about helping this generation of divorced dads through sharing insights and experiences that we uncover along the way.

Now go get a beer and have a look through the posts here.

If you’re a ‘New Dad’  as well that wants to do some guest-posting, let me know.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.