Dad on Duty
Fatherhood is one of the most exciting and terrifying things in the world, according to Ian Thomas, a 35-year-old father of two.
Ian and his wife, Lori, just had their first girl, Genevieve Mae Thomas, born on May 16. Genevieve joins her 3-year-old brother Greyson as the fourth member of the Thomas family.
Ian of Butler remembers how excited, nervous and scared he felt waiting in the delivery room, but said having the experience with Greyson really helped
“I kind of had an idea of what was going to happen,” Ian said. “But there was also a lot fear.”
Ian worried if his wife would be all right, if his child would be healthy and if everyone would make it home safe.
“Don't get me wrong, I don't want to make it sound like it's all bad,” Ian said. “There's a lot of excitement, too.”
While Ian had an idea of what to expect with Genevieve being his second child, there were still a lot of adjustments going from one child to two. The biggest, according to Ian, is that with one child and two parents it's easy to communicate with each other, and each of them knows who's supposed to do what.
“You outnumber the child,” Ian said. “But when it's an even playing field, children to parents, that's a lot harder.”
Time management becomes extremely important when you have two children compared to one, said Ian, who is an art professor at Slippery Rock University.
“The 3-year-old wants to run and play while we're both (Ian and Lori) exhausted from not getting any sleep with the new child.” Ian said.
Being able to balance the time to give attention to their son and to take care of the newborn is a hard thing to do, according to Ian.
“The second child seems like a lot more than the second child,” Ian said while laughing.
Looking down the road, Ian sees that there's a different set of issues raising a daughter than a son.
“I'm already envisioning her being asked out on dates,” Ian said. “I foresee how there's going to be a great deal of stress questioning men.”
Ian definitely sees himself as being the father who greets his daughters' first boyfriend while he's cleaning his gun.“I don't even own a gun, but now I've been thinking about buying a flare gun or something to clean for that situation.” Ian said while laughing.Aside from the need to protect his daughter, Ian hopes that he'll have enough fatherly advice to help her become a self-confident woman. He sees how strong of a woman both his mother and wife are, and he hopes and looks forward to seeing his daughter become as strong and self-confident as they are.Ian plans on taking after his father in terms of how to raise his children.“I haven't received any specific advice,” Ian said. “But I had an amazing father.”What Ian appreciated most about his father's method of parenting was his patience.“If I'm a fraction of the father my dad was, I should be all right,” Ian said.With Father's Day this Sunday, Ian thought back to how he felt on his first Father's Day as a new father.He said it was unusual that he had a holiday that recognized him as father now, but it was also exciting. Even though Ian has been celebrated on Father's Day for three years, his favorite Father's Day memory is something he did for his father 10 years ago.“I wrote my father a letter expressing to him what an unbelievable father he was,” Ian said. “Watching him read that, and his emotional reaction to that was by far my favorite Father's Day memory.”
