Who is The Monday Morning Parent?

That would be me.  Not that you can't contribute - I would love to have your comments and stories to include int he blog - but the buck stops with me.  To understand the background of what you read here, it may help you to know a few things about who I am.  So, here you go:

I'm a Christian.  I am thankful that Jesus came and died so that I could be reborn.  I am a sinner saved by grace - not perfect, but working toward it.  Some days I do better than others.  My two main goals in life are 1) to let my children know that God loves them and 2) to let my children know that I love them.  If I can accomplish those two things, anything else is gravy.

I'm a single dad with two girls.  I love them unconditionally.  I am having to learn how to play like a girl.  I fear the day when they start dating.  I have told them that they cannot date until they are 30.  I came equipped with NO knowledge of how to parent a girl.  For that matter, I came with equipped with no knowledge of how to parent at all.  I want to be a good dad, and I am trying to get better every day.

I'm an engineer.  That means I act, react, and (most importantly) think like an engineer.  God has blessed me with a great ability as a single-tasker.  That's right, single-tasker.  I am at my best when I can concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all others.  Not the best quality in a parent, but we all have to work with what God's given us.  It makes me lousy at getting everything ready for a meal at the same time, but really good at giving the girls my attention when we are playing a game.

I'm a widower.  My wife passed away in December 2007 from complications with her leukemia.  I miss her both as a wife and as the mother of my children, but God has helped me both to mourn her death and celebrate her life.  As He promised, He has changed my mourning into joy.

I'm a lousy blogger.  I started this blog with the intention of posting at least once per week.  It's not even January, and I'm already behind.  Get used to it.   

What is The Monday Morning Parent?

So... it is an odd title, isn't it.

It's NOT a reference to bleary-eyed, caffeine-seeking, sleep-deprived parenting... at least not always.

The name comes from a segment on Sports Center I watched in college - the Monday Morning Quarterback.  The idea is simple: during Sunday's game, players made decisions - good and bad - based on what they knew at the time.  During the game, and even in the post-game interview, they were so caught up in the emotions of the game that you would defend those decisions to the death.  However, on Monday morning, after some rest and some separation from the emotions of the game, they could finally look back objectively at what happened and evaluate those decisions.  Hopefully, they would then learn from the mistakes made and avoid them in later games.

I find that parenting is similar.  I frequently have to make decisions quickly, at times when I am emotionally involved in the situation.  Looking back, some of those decisions were good, and others.... well.... not so good.  Hopefully, as I look back after some rest, I can be objective and learn from my mistakes, thus resulting in "better game" going forward.  So that's what I hope happens here in the blog - that I force myself to look back at what I've done and try and learn from it.