A few weeks ago my wife had a wedding to attend in Washington DC. This meant she would be gone for five days and I was looking forward to a few days with just me and the kids. A Perfect chance to show off my daddy daycare skills (so I thought??)
That was until I realised everyone I could turn to would be out of the country or out of reach at the same time. Mom and Dad in Cuba, Wife and In-laws in DC, Sisters in Ottawa and Morocco.(hmm what were the odds?) Regardless I was confident and thought piece of cake, boy was I wrong.
A typical day in our home consists of getting woken up early by Norah asking for cereal, then dragging Benjamin out of bed and encouraging him to eat breakfast. Followed by getting everyone dressed and ready to be out of the door in time for daycare and off to work.
Eight hours later pickup, swimming lessons or kumon (depending on the day), preparing dinner, eating, cleaning dishes, playing with kids, bath time, reading time and the never ending battle of bed time. Man I am tired just typing this out.
My point is usually we are two to tackle this, day after day after day but, for five days it was just me. Once the kids were asleep I barely had the energy to workout, read, work or even watch tv to unwind.
I am writing this not as a complaint but as a Shout-Out to ALL parents and specially all the SINGLE parents out there. I tip my hat to you. I did what you do for only five days and could not imagine doing this alone on a full time basis. Whether you are struggling or killing it, keep going you got this.
Pierre-Richard Ducasse
Daddy Allstars 