The only thing more quintessentially “Dad” than mowing a lawn while also attempting to listen to the final round play out of a pretty meaningless golf tournament as it plays through old school apple headphones (the ones with the cord) while the phone sits in your pocket (i.e., no video) as you envision Cam Smith’s majestic ball flight … is doing all this while wearing a pair of these:
That wasn’t me, of course; thank God. Since I was wearing Asics.
But nonetheless that’s the position I found myself in last weekend.
I enjoy multitasking. I don’t think I’m all that great at it. And it makes me habitually late to most things. But it provides one hell of a rush. I’ve always found doing one task at a time somewhat boring.
For instance, yesterday I was holding my 10-month old daughter while taking a leak. I could have done these tasks separately. But she’s now at that age where it’s not a super great idea to leave her alone for even the period of time it takes to go pee. And I really needed to go. So there she sat, comfortably in my arms, staring down at her father’s massive … ly-underwhelming penis, fortunately with no comparative benchmarks to view it against.
It’s not that multitasking is something new for me. It’s just that as a father, and a recent father of two, it takes on new, unexpected forms.
Like setting your fantasy lineup with your phone at your hip, while also reading a story (tip: choose a long enough book to read to allow for ample time);
Or listening to a podcast while folding laundry;
Or perfecting my ‘intensely curious’ face while at work during a meeting, broadcasting true, genuine interest in the topic at hand, while actually just pulling up photos of my kids;
Or texting my friends while driving the family around about how those “Baby on Board” signs are a bit much.
I’m not great at multitasking, but it can be a pretty valuable skill set to have in trying to maintain as best you can some of those pre-Dad habits into your new life as a Dad.
Good luck.
Anthony Guerreso