Previously, I had written an article about whether my daughter needed a nanny at 15 years old. I had started a new business and on occasion, I needed to travel for a week at a time. We both determined that with adequate groceries and meal preparation, credit cards and her burgeoning independence, her staying at home or going to her mom’s, a babysitter would not be needed. But I was partly looking not for my daughter but for me! I need a manny!
Business building takes time and lots of long hours and it dawned on me that I’ve been so busy this year with business building that I felt the reigns of fatherhood loosening.
I was also afraid that taking on a nanny would cast the impression that I wouldn’t or couldn’t keep up my role of single-dad anymore. I would never want my daughter to think that her care is beyond my scope. Or that other things have taken priority over her. There’s also the unwanted attention that others would judge me and my ex-wife would take the opportunity to gaslight me.
What I really need is more help at work, not at home! I need a body man to help me manage my daily schedule, logistics and general assistance. I need a manny!
But upon reflection, I didn’t need to outsource my fatherhood. My first year of business building will eventually ease and beyond having a housekeeper to tidy the house, I can still manage. I’ve been doing it for this long and there’s only a couple more years before she leaves for university. What I really need is more help at work, not at home! I need a body man to help me manage my daily schedule, logistics and general assistance. But a nanny won’t be able to help me with that.
In the end, I decided that I would only keep my housekeeper for domestic duties. I hire business advisors and specialists to help me. This leaves me time to focus, in parallel, my domestic life with my daughter. In the blink of an eye, two years will pass quickly and she’ll be off to campus life. In those two years, my business will blossom (I hope). And in two years, I won’t think about how frantic the twilight of her teenage years will be.
In fact, I will rush to put in 10 hour days and then be home to cook, watch TV and sit by the fireplace helping my daughter with her homework. We will enjoy our home life—just the two of us.
