Zen and the Art of Raising a Child

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Filed under: Daddy Blog, Baby is Here!

I try to consider myself an educated person and have dabbled into understanding Eastern Religions and Philosophy. This attempt at understanding the fundamentals of those ideas was to gain some insight to myself and gain some peace in these hectic crazy lives we lead. To this day, those concepts escape me. Nowadays, there is less time for self-discovery and more time for discovery of my child (which is quite awesome).

So, when there are a few raw minutes to myself, I pick up some of those texts and try to rediscover my interest in those ancient teachings. The hope is they will make me a better person and thus a better daddy. However, I really have to laugh when I read some of that stuff. Why? Well, in my experience “enlightenment” and the “Art of Baby Raising” are two worlds that will never come as one.

When was the last time you heard a Zen master talk about the meaning of an apple while he is struggling with changing a smelly, disgusting, vomit inducing diaper? How did Mr. Zen master attain enlightenment when he came home from work/school and Mrs. Zen throws a crying baby at him when he walks in the door? Case closed.