Here's the sneaky truth about AfroDaddy: I put of LOT of time and physical and mental energy into this.
When people ask me how I manage to make all these videos, podcasts, blogs and social media posts while being a working dad, I usually brush it off, but actually, there is rarely a time when I don't have the next piece of AfroDaddy content floating around in my mind.
Since I put so much into this...thing (it's more than a blog or Instagram page, in my opinion), I have to be very careful about what I want it to achieve for you, my loyal reader as well as for me. I want to direct that energy into something positive and worthwhile for all of us.
Aspirational
I knew from the very beginning that I did NOT want to position myself as some sort of "parenting expert". I am only an expert at raising my two boys, and even that is highly debatable at times.
So I didn't want to give loads of advice from myself, or to have other dads and parents "look up" to me as if I was some example of a good parent. I never wanted to have people aspire to some arbitrary bar I set. I still don't want that.
Inspiration
And then there was the idea of being an "inspiration". A good, solid, interracial, married couple who were safety-care parents who went on to adopt? Great story...on the outside, at least.
The truth is always more complex and difficult than the fairy-tales people tell themselves about their own lives. I didn't want to necessarily burden you with the tough, scary and dirty parts of my life - but also didn't want to create the assumption that those parts didn't exist, either.
Added to all that is the fact that I find inspirational social media posts to be cheesy as all hell.
In my experience, the person who is first to give some copy-pasted quote that tries to tell me how to think about my own life is usually the last person I should be looking to for advice.
I don't feel like an inspiration - that feels like it's almost like being a leader and I am in no way qualified to be doing that. Plus...that feels exhausting.
(Seriously, if you are someone that is constantly putting frilly aphorisms over sunrise images on Instagram...aren't you just tired of it?)
So...what am I to you? What do I want to be?
Relational
Well, entertaining, hopefully, but more than that, I strive to be relatable. Instead of being the parent that makes the other parents feel bad because they don't make impressive school lunches, I want to be the parent that makes other parents laugh at how much I equally hate the process of making food every day for my hungry, often ungrateful offspring.
Finally, if I can potentially bring new ideas and perspectives that you may not have thought about, then that is just gravy.
So, I hope that every piece of AfroDaddy content this year can bring you something entertaining, relatable and thought-provoking. If I manage that, I'd love for you to let me know! DM me wherever you follow me on the socials, or pop an email my way to afrodaddyct@gmail.com.
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