I Have Been Lucky To Be Dad Five Times 

This is something I have often wondered when I meet people I meet and you have these conservations about each other. You know the ones, are you married? Where do you live? How many children do you have?

I love the reactions on peoples faces when I say I have five children. Most people raise their eyebrows as if to say don’t you think that’s too many in today’s world? Haha! Well, maybe it is, but it was my decision and I have never regretted it for one minute.

Having children for me has been the most fulfilling experience ever. It gave me a purpose in my life.

My own childhood, as I have written about on numerous occasions, was incredibly dysfunctional and well a car crash upbringing by two very selfish individuals that really didn’t have a right to be parents, but of course that’s not really that unusual. I wouldn’t say I decided to have five children to put right my own childhood, but it certainly gave me an opportunity to raise my children the right way.

The reasons why I think it was the right decision to have five children are numerous and here I will list what it is for me to have five children and how it’s changed me for the better and made me a human being that I love, because before you can love and respect anybody, you really need to love and respect yourself. Which for years I never did, and of course that was a reflection and consequence of my own childhood.

When you have children and become a parent I believe there is chemical reaction in your brain that changes your personality and character forever, for the better. It’s a change that makes you a complete person. After all, we are members of the human race and our number one job in life is to pro-recreate. If of course that’s possible. It’s not about making money, jobs or the material things in life.

So back to my original question. Was it the right decision to five children? There are possibly numerous reasons why it was the right decision, but three reasons always come to my mind when I think about it so here it goes…

1. When we are either single or married, but without children there is a temptation to be a bit selfish. In fact I know I was having the ability to please yourself and do what you want and when you want. It was easy, lazy Sundays etc playing Xbox for hours on end.

That all ends when you have a child. There is no time to be selfish because for the next number of years you will be on call 24/7 and believe me I know! My oldest child is now an adult and 21 years old and even now every so often I have to be on call for her.

2. Responsibilities change now you have a small little baby that can’t do anything for themselves. You are completly responsible for everything and although some of those responsibilities disappear as your children grow up, the responsibility of your child who you brought into the world never goes away.

3. Love is my last one. I believe you never really discover what unconditional love is until you have a child. The second my babies were placed in my arms, I found love on a different level and it was exactly the same all five times I became a father. The love I feel as a father is one of protection against all the bad things in the world. Love that will never judge, but that will support your children’s choices, even sometimes when you genuinely think it’s the wrong choice. A love that is always there to pick up the pieces of whatever drama or problem that your children have in life. It’s an all consuming very complete love and it will last a lifetime.

There are of course many times that a parent/child relationship doesn’t work out, but hopefully if the child can break the mould, and go on to become a good parent something good has come from a bad relationship.

So was I right to father five children? 100%, I believe I was. It has made me happy beyond my wildest dreams and I have always felt lucky to be a dad. To also experience the love a parent has for a child is truly awesome. To also feel the love the child has for a parent is one of most special feelings ever.

Do you think you are lucky to be a parent? Would love to know your thoughts.