Dads in the Limelight – Rob Ainbinder

I was raised just north of Boston. Go Pats! My family consisted of my Mom, brother and myself. Weekends we had the opportunity to trek down to visit our Dad who lived south of Boston. I am probably in the limelight the most for my knowledge and love of things marketing. I love to tear down big budget campaigns and develop ideas for small to medium sized ones. At one time I wanted to work at a large NY ad agency. I loved “Mad Men” and the book, “Ogilvy on Advertising” as well as more recent ad/marketing books and blogs. I also write a Dad blog and the founder of Why People Click and the author of the book: “Mastering Google Keep“.

 

My Wife and I crossed paths while we were both working at the same retail store in Florida. It’s the one with the abbreviation B.B.B. She’ll tell you that she asked me out on our first date. I do remember her asking me out to eat as we closed the store. I’ll sheepishly admit it was a date. Regardless of how it went down, we haven’t been apart long since that first encounter involving pasta, a bottle of wine and tons of conversation. So much conversation, that the waitstaff closed the restaurant around us! These days my family (Wife, our teenage daughter, dog Lilly and myself) live in the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem area of North Carolina.

The largest challenge I’ve had in being a father is wondering if I’ve been enough of father. At times it’s also been, ensuring I could be there for many of the ceremonies, accomplishments and programs in my daughter’s life. Some employers were less understanding than others. We dads seem to have some distance to go with employers.

 

Fathers, trust your instinct. Mothers get a lot of credit for this trait. But, we have it too.. in spades. Also, don’t be limited by what your father did/did not do. Be the father you want to be and your kids deserve. That passive father stuff we see on TV isn’t the real deal.

 

I don’t believe there is balance. Balance is lie. Balance says we always have to treat the opposing sides equally. The truth is that sometimes one side or, the other will require more time. This isn’t out of balance. It’s allocating our time in meaningful ways.

 

That we all face many of the same struggles (work, life, family, finances). And that we’re going down a similar path.

 

It has it ups and downs. And that the ups have eclipsed the down my miles. I’ve also learned you can be wrong and you can learn from it even in the throse of raising a family and being a husband.

 

Wow, there have been so many. My daughter is a teen now. The first was seeing her birth and participating in that. After that, I remember a certain diaper change that went bad. Ever seen projectile poop? Yeah, that was it. More recently, it’s seeing evidence of this person we are raising. From how she handles toxic friends to her efforts to excel in her class work and the work she does for the community through Girl Scouts.