Our 819th Dad in the Limelight is Jason Hewer. I want to thank Jason Hewer for being a part of this series. It has been great getting connected with him and now sharing Jason Hewer with all of you.
1) Tell me about yourself, (as well as how you are in the limelight for my readers knowledge)
My name is Jason Hewer and I am a 40 year old man in the process of changing careers who has a number of health problems and a 7 month old baby boy, Thomas, who has become the focus of our lives. About 3 months ago I seriously started working on my YouTube channel, which is a health and hiking channel that has been steadily growing. It is still a small channel in the grand scheme of things but is getting more and more coverage.
2) Tell me about your family?
Ten years ago I met Paula through work and after five years of adventuring around the world, including a period living in China, we settled in the Northwest of the UK and married. It wasn’t for another 4 and a half years that we were blessed with a little baby boy. He is now 7 months old and into everything.
3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?
The largest challenge of being a father for me hasn’t been as a direct result of anything Thomas has done. He is an absolute superstar who sleeps well and is a pleasure to raise. My main challenge is due to my health. A couple of years ago now I had to go under the knife to have a brain tumour removed. Most of the symptoms I was suffering prior to surgery resurfaced a few months after surgery with the worst of these being joint pain, a constant headache and intermittent crippling tiredness. Whilst waiting for surgery I ballooned to nearly 400 lbs and was unable to exercise so became very unfit. Since surgery I have been back into hospital twice with pneumonia and multiple blood clots on my lungs on both occasions. At this stage no one is sure what is causing the clots. This leads me back to the challenge, The tumor and its associated condition, acromegaly, can lead to a significantly reduced life expectancy, and a consultant informed me each of the clots, of which I had multiple on each lung, had a one in ten chance of killing me instantly. My main challenge, and the reason for my channel, is 3 fold. First and foremost it is to motivate me, and hopefully others, to get out and exercise and eat healthily. Secondly, to give me and the boy something to look back at when he is older so we can see what adventures we had together and thirdly, and most morbidly, if I don’t get to see him grow up it will give him something to remember me by.
4) What advice would you give to other fathers?
For me to give advice to other fathers is a difficult one ass Thomas is so young and it only feels like days that I have been raising him. But, if I was to give advice, make sure you are well prepared prior to the due date. By that I don’t mean one or two days before but two weeks before in case things happen in a hurry. When your little bundle of joy arrives do your level best to make the baby fit into your life. Don’t change your life completely to fit around the baby. We took Thomas to the rugby after 3 weeks and he has out shopping with us when he was only a couple of days old. So many of our friends virtually go into hibernation. You will see from the vlogs on Trail Trials that the boy has been out with me since a very early age. Most importantly though relax and enjoy raising them.I am sure the baby feeds of our anxiety and and anxious parent leads to a stressed, unsettled baby.
5) How have you come to balance parenthood and outside life?
A lot of this I covered with the previous answer. We were fortunate in one way though as my health meant that I was off at the time Thomas arrived so both my wife and I were at home a vast majority of the time to raise him and to watch his early months. From an early age his grandparents have looked after him for the odd night to allow us to get out and we have taken him with us whenever we could. We also exposed him to noise for man early age. As a result he will sleep when he needs to wherever he is. Too many parents tip toe around there baby trying to maintain silence so the baby can sleep but I believe this is creating a rod for their own back as the baby won’t sleep when there is any noise.
6) What have you learned from the fathers that you have interacted with?
I was concerned that being an older father would mean that most of my friends would have had their children and moved on but it has worked out that a lot of my friends have had children around the same time. Watching them with their children has taught me a lot. Those that are relaxed with their children have had a much easier life. Those that are frantic have fickle children. But in general I have taken a little from each parenting style and tried to model mine on all of theirs. I try to spend as much time as I can interacting with Thomas and although he is only young I like to stimulate his mind by taking him to different places and immersing him in different environments. As mentioned before we take him to the rugby, we have annual passes for Chester Zoo as well as taken him to the coast regularly. We also take him along with us when walking. Hopefully this stimulation will benefit him as he grows up.
7) What else would you share regarding your experiences as a father thus far?
It would be so easy to pontificate with this answer but I will try to keep it brief. They grow up so fast so enjoy everyday and have fun.
8. What have been the most memorable experiences that you have had thus far as a parent?
Despite taking him out and about and doing as much as we can my most memorable moments are the little things. The first time I held him. (although he pee’d all over me), the first smile, the first laugh and the noises of excitement he makes when you come home and see him. They melt my heart.
If you have any questions for Jason Hewer, please leave a comment here and I will make sure that he gets them so that he may be able to respond!
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