The alpha and omega; the yin and yang, the beginning and the end, the ups and the down are all apart of the craziness and beauty of fatherhood. It makes me think about the song in the Lion King; “Circle of Life.” Huh, why didn’t somebody tell me that while my mind was focused on the storyline of Mufasa and Simba, that they were really talking about me.
I ran across a note I was send some time ago and decided to put it in an inforgraphic form. The graphic does a eery job of pointing out how the relationship with your children changes over the years. I asked a few dads about it and the agree with the cycle; however was a little hesitant on the timeline.
Some dads said that at 50 years old, their cycle was still stuck somewhere between 18-25. They iterated that they still don’t know whether or not their children believe that anything they say makes sense. Other dads even went so far as to say, they where stuck between 10 and 25. After thinking about this, I wondered what it meant for me.
Well; as an African American male, it may be safe to assume that based on the U.S. Census mortality rates, I’ll probably be dead before my children are ready to give up everything for my presence. This definitely true for at least for one of my children. I have a greater probability with the others.
Basically what I surmise from the graphic is that life is short. That while 70 years may seem like a lot of time to live, it really isn’t. Before you know it, that little baby will love you, hate you, tolerate you, abandon you, rediscover you, appreciate you and love you again. It is possible that they might pause some where in that cycle. The beauty in the cycle is being able to harness as many memorable moments as possible.
Would love to hear from you. As a parent…where are you on this cycle?
