My father was a gruff Irishman who was unable to express feelings and always insisted we be tough. Being a parent, for me, means creating what I didn't have. I want my children to feel love and be able to express it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I want my children to be proud of their father and to say, 'My father is the best dad in the world.' And I want them to belong to a modern family, and live a path of happiness and calm.
Becoming a parent gives you access to a whole world of feeling. It gives you a much stronger sense of life and death: becoming a father made me realise my own mortality.
A very painful part of being a parent is having really negative feelings about your children when you love them so much.
Children are to be born into a family where the parents hold the needs of children equal to their own in importance. And children are to love parents and each other.
Being a mother adds another emotional dimension, a feel for children that I didn't have before I had one. They were a pain before.
The essence of parenthood is to make children think that they are the most handsome, intelligent, brilliant person in the world.
I always appreciated that connection between a parent and a kid because I yearned for it so much. Growing up, I wanted a father, and because I've had this idea of what a father should be, it's exciting to finally have the opportunity to try and be that guy, to see if I can actually do it.
While I didn't have a father around, I did have - and what I want my children to both experience - the ability to explore, experiment and enjoy life as a kid.
We learn much of parenting from our own parents. My love for my father deepened profoundly when he was kind, patient, and understanding.
I'm a father myself for the first time in my life, and I had very very loving parents.