2024 Year In Review

What I learned from being a (temporary) full-time father.

Dreams don’t have to die as we grow older. They can be revised, added to, and edited as we grow. 2024 brought a completed home renovation and the birth of a daughter — life exceeding early imaginings, adding new aspirations like choosing schools and ageing healthily to be there for the children.

Being a Mother is Hard

There’s a difference between being a father and being a good father. Motherhood carries unique biological and emotional burdens — labour, breastfeeding, infant attachment — that no partner can replicate. Good parenting requires intentional, ongoing effort.

Living the Example

Yo-Yo Ma’s goal is to “pass the least toxin to the next generation.” Children mirror parental behaviour rather than following directives. They are reflective mirrors — showing us how we navigate boredom, disappointment, and adversity. We cannot tell them how to be; we have to show them.

Lending Fresh Eyes

Travelling with young children reveals how childhood perspectives uncover everyday magic — buckets of water, leaves, trains, and household objects become sources of wonder that adult-focused trips overlook entirely.

Unadulterated Joy

“Unadulterated joy” — my favourite English phrase. Children’s natural contentment contrasts with adult learned dissatisfaction. Happiness might be the default state if we could un-adult ourselves.

This is the Blessing

The cultural framing of happiness as a future achievement — if-then thinking — misses the point. Reading to them, feeding them, sleeping beside them: these are privileges, not burdens. The present moment with two young children is the blessing, not the prelude to it.

Thank you for the 2024 memories. Wishing you all more than luck in 2025.