There are fewer and fewer days left for him Father's day and we continue with our Special Dads Bloggers, interviewing the best-known parents of the network, or some of those who transmit us the most, who with their tickets tell us a way to see paternity more conscious than before.
Today we have Rafael, author of the Papá Cangrejo blog, where he tells us about his son and what is to come, with love, good humor and much involvement. In it he tells us things about crab, his son, his father's role and other things that happen in his little big family.
Rafael works in Marketing and as a Community Manager, he is 43 years old and is the father of a 6-year-old boy and another who will be born soon, as his wife leaves accounts on March 24.
What led you to start writing in a blog?
Shortly after I was born a crab, I was unemployed, like so many Spaniards, and when my wife returned to work I stayed "Alone at home", at first I felt a little like Macaulay Culkin, given the uncertainty that this little creature looked at me fixedly almost all the time. In the summer of 2010, Crab was already two years old and my wife, Cristina, an inveterate blog reader, encouraged me to start one to get distracted, I guess I was worried about my mental health (lol) both cartoons, bottles, diapers , etc. "Knowing that I am his example makes me, every day, strive to eliminate behaviors or habits learned over the years" So I started a little to try, because to be honest, I had not read any blog, but I was immediately hooked, to blogs and to my blog. I chose the name because at first it seemed that my life was going backwards, I lost my job and I had to stay at home taking care of my son. But soon I realized that I was not going backwards, if not that I was advancing in another way, I was becoming a father involved in the upbringing of his son who had the LUCK of being able to see every progress, every advance that I was making , his first words, his first steps, etc. In short, I was becoming the father I had always wanted for myself.
What does the blog give you?
The truth is that the blog has brought me friends, digital friends, those who do not know in person, but who know more about you than most who know you, in fact few people know that I write a blog. And there are some blogs that I follow and follow me from the beginning like JuanRa Diablo (At the age of the Devil), Anusky (The best moment is now), Lourdes (Bitacora Notebook), Dácil (Blog of a desperate mother) to those who I already consider my friends. Then others have arrived that are also part of this small virtual world, of the crab galaxy. On the other hand, the people who comment and participate give me different points of view, which in certain situations comes in handy, because those perspectives sometimes offer you options that I have overlooked. I also recognize that the blog is, on some occasions, an escape valve, sometimes, with issues that concern me, telling it seems to reduce tension, worry. In addition, of course, the experiences of others have shown me that I am not the only one who improvises every day, because nobody knows how to be a father, because of many theoretical knowledge that he possesses, to be a father you learn every day.
It is often said that children learn from parents and that parents learn from children, do you agree with this statement?
Totally, that children learn from parents is obvious, but it is also true that parents learn from our children, or at least I do. The first thing my son has taught me is to value the effort my parents made to raise me and educate me, and the few problems that may have arisen have disappeared. The fact that I know that I am his example makes me, every day, strive to eliminate behaviors or habits learned over the years and that I do not want him to incorporate into his life. I learn to relativize things, because children's vision, by simple, does not imply that it is worse, in fact, many times their innocent approaches are a better option. Thanks to Crab, there are mistakes that I will not make with his little brother, who will be born soon, or at least I hope so.
Being a father is ...
An adventure. Being a father is like being Indiana Jones, a continuous adventure in which you never know what is to come. We are never prepared and when we have adapted to our son, it turns out that he has grown, is in a new stage and we have to learn again, to adapt to new circumstances, and so on. Each year that it turns out are new changes to adapt to, and this does not stop happening no matter how much our son becomes, because we will always be his parents, and we will have to learn to be in every facet.
Your son was known for a long time as "The boy who runs ...", does he still run?
Hahahaha, it's true. Crab did not walk, he went from crawling to running, since he started to stand up, every time he did he ran. It was like that for a long time, I was always running and those of the greengrocer under my house when they saw it happen, said "look at the child who runs" and stayed. Unfortunately, he has slowed his brakes, he has become an indoor child (hahahaha) now he only runs when I stop him, if I say "let's see how long it takes to get there" and things like that. I would like to find a way to do something more active, but in reality, I think it is a behavior that he has learned from me, so I will not blame him, although I hope to find something that motivates him to do more sport.
We thank Rafael for explaining some things about his life and his blog Dad crab and, incidentally, that made us laugh for a while with their stories. Without knowing him, I would say that he is a great person, so surely Crab has a good father and teacher to learn from, as will the new crab, when he arrives.
