Our 730th Dad in the Limelight is writer, blogger, podcaster, voice actor and fitness/nutrition coach Pete Cataldo. I want to thank Pete Cataldo for being a part of this series. It has been great getting connected with him and now sharing Pete Cataldo with all of you.
1) Tell me about yourself, (as well as how you are in the limelight for my readers knowledge)
Hi, my name is Pete Cataldo and I’m a writer, blogger, podcaster, voice actor, fitness/nutrition coach and pretty swell guy. Oh yeah, my most important roles include being a husband to my beautiful wife, Angela, and a dad trying to figure it all out to a little toddler named Giuliana.
I spent almost 10 years in front of the camera as a television sports anchor, then another five years behind the scenes as a public relations professional. I gave up both industries to start my own venture as a writer and voice actor and now spend my time as a work-from-home dad trying to avoid insanity while I constantly juggle 150 different business, personal and fatherhood tasks.
Find out more about me here: DaddyMindTricks.com
Also, my voiceover work and demos are featured here: PeteCataldo.com
2) Tell me about your family
Giuliana is my first child and is the R2D2 to her Luke Skywalker. We get into all kinds of adventures while I attempt to teach my young Padawan the ways of The Force on a day to day basis. Sometimes, this works out swimmingly and she can acheive acts of greatness beyond her 15 months of age. Other times, I’m just trying to avoid another blow out diaper that’ll require a post-changing shower to get the poop out of my hair.
Angela and I have been married for seven years now and we met during our stint in television news. We both gave up the dream of being borderline C-list celebs to pursue a bigger dream of living in the big city. So we packed our bags and moved to New York in 2009 and have lived here in Manhattan ever since.
Together, the three of us enjoy the sights and sounds of city life while proving all of the naysayers wrong who claim parenting in a big city is impossible. Our playground is Central Park and there’s a lesson about new cultures and experiences every time we walk outside. It all sounds very granola and hemp seed hippie, and maybe it actually is that way, but it’s still our way of making it work.
3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?
Learning on the fly is a crazy adjustment for most first-time parents, myself included. It’s a challenge to settle into the life of constant unsettling rhythm and the idea of trial and error with just about every food, outfit, diaper, soap and everything in between with this ever-changing human that we call our kids.
4) What advice would you give to other fathers?
Peace in the process. We get so caught up in the day-to-day struggles of trying to juggle the office, the marriage, the role of being super dad that if we aren’t careful, life will fly by without warning and we’ll be stuck looking back at the remnants wondering what the hell happened.
Slow down. Appreciate the journey. Know that obstacles will arise and sometimes this stuff is just gonna suck. But understand that those obstacles are usually just small and minor bumps and if we focus on getting a little bit better each and every day, those little bumps now will only sharpen our resolve to conquer mountains down the road.
5) How have you come to balance parenthood and outside life?
Outside life? There exists a world in which events take place involving other people? I kid. Angela and I make it a point of emphasis to break away from the day-to-day routine of being mommy and daddy to have some date nights and just time away from baby talk. I encourage all parents to do the same.
I’m also big on tapping into my health, fitness and nutritional backgrounds to focus on a mindful life of meditation and journaling and working out and eating right. Taking care of ourselves is so often overlooked when we are trying to take care of children, but it needs to be a priority. I spend time every day keeping up with my own maintenance, which goes a long way towards establishing a solid balance in all aspects of my life.
6) What have you learned from the fathers that you have interacted with?
Don’t worry about failure. You’ve got to work pretty hard to break a baby. Those little humanoids are virtually indestructible. So roll the sleeves up, dive in and get to work. Some days, we’ll win the battle. Other days, it’ll feel like we’re losing the war. But more often than not, we’ll all grow from the learning process – including the kids who are constantly learning from us.
There’s no manual. No instruction booklet. We are all designed to have some instinctual knowledge about this fatherhood thing, but it really doesn’t sharpen itself unless we put in the effort. If we are afraid of getting dirty or simply not being perfect, we are going to fall flat on our faces and there isn’t time for that. Kids are an all-hands-on-deck situation.
7) What else would you share regarding your experiences as a father thus far?
I’m pretty young into the fatherhood journey, so I still have much to learn myself. Even though we can tend to get bogged down into that routine of the parenting grind, it really is a new adventure every single day. Take it all in and enjoy the ride.
8) What have been the most memorable experiences that you have had thus far as a parent?
Like many of the dads throughout this Dads in the Limelight series, the best moments are the smallest moments that probably don’t mean a whole lot to the person reading, but always resonate with me: simple conversations with Giuliana while she babbles; reading a book to her every day and watching how she is fully engaged throughout the journey; walking around the park with her and exploring the vast world that is a pile of leaves.
Hanging out with my daughter daily provides an experience that most men don’t get to enjoy. Sure, stay at home dads are becoming trendier than hipster beards, brussel sprouts and skinny jeans, but the fact of the matter is we are still pretty small in numbers. That’s okay. I enjoy my role as the man shaping the future of this little princess.
If you have any questions for Pete Cataldo, 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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