The Skeptics
My wife has developed a saying during her pregnancy that is unfortunately all too true for many pregnant women: if you want unsolicited advice, tell people you’re pregnant. While that reality is much more true for my wife than for me, I have not been immune to the recommendations of well-intentioned but potentially misguided veterans of the parenting game. One of the statements I’ve heard multiple times is some variation of “once you become a dad, you won’t have time for that”. While this statement may be true, I think it’s defeatist to go into parenthood with this mindset. Maybe I’m naive, but if that is the case, then I’m willing to learn this lesson the hard way.
The Ambition
Now to answer the question, what does “The Ambitious Dad” mean? The Ambitious Dad is a concept, philosophy, and way of being that can apply to any current, expectant, or hopeful father; an ambitious dad is a dad who wants to be the best dad he can be, but also the best husband, professional, artist, athlete, chef, DIYer, or whatever roles he’d like to fill.
Many, if not all, of us have heard stories of parents who have felt they had to give up something when becoming a parent. While I support any reasonable sacrifice a parent would make for the betterment of their child, I want to explore the idea that what may seem like a completely opposite approach can be equally effective: that we can add the joys and responsibilities of becoming a father to everything else in our lives and that by adding to, rather than subtracting from, our lives, we can become the best, most successful versions of ourselves, which will allow us to be the best fathers we can be. That is what The Ambitious Dad means to me. And while I encourage you to consider what being an ambitious dad looks like for you, in whatever shape that takes, I hope it pushes you to your limits, and then tests how much farther those limits can go.