"Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The Terminator would never stop. It would never leave him, and it would never hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there, and it would die to protect him." --Linda Hamilton, "Terminator 2"
I've been a father for nearly three years now. It's a very responsible position to be in, but also a very rewarding one. There is an untold number of books on the difficult subject of parenthood, some of which I've read. Ok, I'll be honest. I've skimmed through a couple, read a couple whole chapters of one or two and ignored a truckload.
Just like on any complex subject, there are a whole lot of tips for specific situations you can learn from books. However, the gist of it can, and should, be condensed to a set of simple rules that can be applied in complex every day situations, which sometimes change astonishingly fast. This is the set I'm trying to use:
1) Have discipline. I'm the boss and I define the rules (where I = myself and the wife). The kid has to know it and adapt to it.
2) Do what the terminator would do. Have infinite patience. Don't get embarrassed about anything. Whenever you have to, stand guard in the window through the night, while the family is sleeping, with a sawn-off shotgun on your shoulder.
I'm serious. Of all the guides on parenthood in the world, the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day is perhaps the one that has touched me the most.
