There are advantages to having kids earlier in life. With active kids, it is fun being able to keep up with the kids, work out with them, and have some friendly competition and win. Not that I’m competitive. And I’m not a young parent. Keeping up with the kids is often painful.
I can still keep up with the kids, though. At soccer practice, we ran “suicides” and I was able to beat my son. It was close. He was ahead most of the way, but the last 50 yard sprint to the finish I pulled it out. Of course I’m feeling it a little today. And he is only 10. And he had already ran them twice. And it was at the end of an hour and a half practice. But the point is that I beat him and that’s all that matters.
Being an older parent does bring it’s challenges. But it has it’s advantages. I think being an older dad gives me a bit of an edge on the discipline thing. I am definitely more mature and more laid back than I was in my younger days. That helps me keep perspective on what is important and what I can let go. It also helps me to not try to re-live my life through my kids. That’s a temptation all of us dads have. I think being an older dad helps keep that in check.
There is no best way to do this. A younger parent or an older parent. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Just remember the one thing that really matters the most in all of this… I still won.
Lol. Not competitive at all! 😂. Alice and I were fairly young parents. Looking back, I think I probably would have been a better parent if we had waited. Thankfully, the Lord took up the slack for my failures and I think our two turned out pretty good. I remember my constant prayer was that He would not let them suffer the consequences of my failures and sin; that He would make them better than their parents. Thank you, Lord.
Ha ha! I can remember when my daughter was a second degree black belt working on her third degree. My husband and her coach (The coach refused to be called Master) were talking about parents and kids. My husband mentioned that he thought he could still win a wrestling match against our daughter because he was much bigger than her. The coach laughed. He said something like, “I don’t think so, Mr. Bush. If you won, it would only be because she doesn’t want to hurt you.” It was a sad, wake up moment for my husband. Ha ha!