NPR, which used to be the aural carpet to my work-at-home days, has been largely replaced by the kid's aural playmat, so to speak.
But in the last 12 hours, I heard these two dads talking about the major changes in their lives that were precipitated by impending fatherhood:
Microsoft millionaire Patrick Awuah had always contemplated returning to his native Ghana, and his first son's birth intensified his desire to make the future a better place, so he and his MSFT-$MM American wife decided to found an "Ivy League-quality" university in Ghana. The fact that, 18 years from now, offspring of the thousands of other MSFT-$MM's would be competing for a finite number of slots in the US Ivies was not a factor at all, I'm sure.
Meanwhile, Chip Scanlan wasn't addicted to marijuana in the Seventies and Eighties, he just needed it to have a good time. And to face the day. When his wife said she didn't want to have kids with a pothead [ouch], he gave it up. He brings this up now because his daughters are teenagers, and he's agonizing over how to tell them [um, how about the radio?]. See, Boomer parents hide their experiences with pot from their kids; Gen X parents use books like It's Just A Plant so their kids don't narc out their stash. Isn't progress beautiful?
Building a University, and Hope, in Ghana [npr.org]
The Hardest Habit to Kick: A Confession [npr.org]
