This is Me...
Well I'm a middle aged something years old-ish dad. Born in the UK, I've traveled the world and lived in a few different places including Spain, Sweden and the Caribbean. In my early 20s I worked as a scuba diving instructor and boat captain in the Cayman Islands.
Went to Uni in my mid 20s and studied to be a Primary School Teacher and sports coach. After Uni moved to Sydney, Australia, where I got married and had a daughter. Then moved up to the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, had two boys. I furthered my career through teaching to being the Head of a Primary School. Decided to take a break from teaching and became a consultant, content writer and editor for an educational publisher.
A couple of years later I moved back into teaching and tutoring on contracts to achieve a better work/life balance. Somewhere in all of that I got separated and found myself a single dad. Realising a lack of online support and ideas aimed at advice for single dads and parents, I decided it was time to create some...
My Journey into Single Dad-dom
You'll find the majority of single dads' blogs are basically a section of their own journeys and experiences. Whilst the aim of my blog isn't that, I felt it important to include my own journey to give you some context of where this all comes from. So here goes...
Before I was a single dad, I was a 'regular family' dad. Dad life began when we got ourselves a puppy. The idea being if we could keep it alive for year, then it should be safe for us to have kids. It lived and so we decided to have a child. I remember holding her for the first time with that unconditional love, as well as a sense of terror at the responsibility. Fortunately my (ex)wife knew exactly what to do! A while later we found ourselves with another 2 kids. I worked whilst my (ex)wife stayed home with the kids for a couple years, before she went back to work also.
Family life traveled along smoothly until we realised we'd grown, changed and no longer had anything in common except the kids. So we separated and I found myself with the world turned upside down. Sold house, sold assets, did the paperwork, found somewhere new to live, came to an agreement of 50/50 shared custody and began my single dad life.
Even though I was technically co-parenting, the point is that the week they are with me, I'm a single dad. I'm sure that this is a similar situation to most of you reading this.
Now, I'd already been a dad for years, so I was prepared for this right? Uhhh...no. Just no.
Without their mum being there all the time, things change...a lot. Washing, cooking, packing lunchboxes, cleaning, driving everywhere, working, more cooking, more cleaning, more washing, injuries, friendship issues, bullying, bedtime routines, shopping, helping with homework and the other million things that go with parenting. All this and 50% less adults doing the job. I was not fully prepared, but I got there. Help from friends, family, research and perhaps the biggest weapon in my arsenal...being a teacher made it possible. My 20 years as a teacher is a luxury many single dads just don't have, and that's why I feel I have the experience along with my own parenting to create this blog and the content within it.