Throughout 2018, I met some amazing people and that is were I met Julian from Argentina (This was the nickname on my phone as I had 4 Julian’s already in my contact list) You might ask how did I meet Julian who is from Argentina on such a tiny island. We met at Mater Dei’s (Local Hospital) parentcraft and from there I already knew that he will be a great dad, since he treated his wife so good and was already reading all sort of books and his child wasn’t born yet. In a nutshell, I wanted to start this blog interview with Julian as in my eyes he is a superdad
Maltese Daddy: Thank you Julian for taking time from your busy schedule to answer a few questions to all dads out there.
Julian: My pleasure, I am glad to help.
Maltese Daddy: What is your son’s name?
Julian: My son’s name is Felix Daniel, Daniel after my father
Maltese Daddy: What do you enjoy most about being a father?
Julian: I think I always wanted to be a father, and though it radically changed our lives, it has become so natural that after 3 short months I don’t remember what it was like not being one. I love to see him smile, and when we manage to do small things, like getting him to sleep.
Maltese Daddy: Does your job affect your daddy life?
Julian: My job is very stressful itself, but very relaxed in the sense that I can go home whenever Felix needs me, and I can work from home if for instance they had a bad night and need me to play with Felix while my wife sleeps a bit more. In that sense it hasn’t made a real difference. I actually enjoy coming to work and having some me-time, it makes the whole parenthood easier. Felix came in the middle of an international transfer for us, and that make us fly often to Barcelona, but he has absolutely no issue with flying, sleeping in hotels, etc
Maltese Daddy: How would you describe your experience when your wife gave birth to your Felix?
Julian: This was an unforgettable experience, a real bonding experience for us as a couple. Felix’s birth was a bit difficult; he was ready to come out but positioned himself slightly wrong in the end… we spent 15 hours at hospital, and she could not have done it without me, and I would not have wanted to miss it anyway. The process itself just showed me how strong she can be, and what she can withstand. Felix swallowed some meconium at the very end, and it was a bit scary, when he came out instantly and instinctively I knew something was wrong, but luckily we gave birth in the best hospital in the world, and they took him away, helped him breath/cry and now he is as healthy as he could be (wohoo)
Maltese Daddy: What traditions did your father pass on to you that you will pass on to your children?
Julian: I lost my father very young, some 15 years ago, but there is not a single day that I don’t remember him, something he’d say, something he’d do. He was full of knowledge I don’t even think he knew he had. I just hope I can pass on the same kind of knowledge to my kids, and have them love me like I love him.
Maltese Daddy: You finished your day at the office, arrived home… what is your daddy ritual? Eg. Eat dinner with the whole family, read a bedtime story to your children etc
Julian: I come home relatively early, so Felix is usually awake when I come home, and it’s Daddy time and play time all the way. A couple of hours later, he may get a bath (not every day), and then nappy change, jammies, and go to sleep. We are trying to get him to sleep with Daddy instead of Mommy so he gets good associations in the future and he can eventually sleep by himself.
Maltese Daddy: From your perspective, how would you describe your fatherly ethics? Explain your answer. (eg strict, cool)
Julian: I’ll answer that in ~14 years when the kid starts questioning every single thing I do, right now, when he sees me and smiles, it is super easy to say “I will be a cool dad”… I WANT to be fair. I want to be able to listen to him, help him, be his role model. I still think a father should be a father, and not a best friend, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be strict, it just means you have a different place in his life than his friends will have one day.
Maltese Daddy: What do you want to make sure that your children and grandchildren will remember about you?
Julian: This may sound corny but I want them to remember how much I love them, and how I always tried to do the best for them.
Maltese Daddy: What is the secret to raising good children from your perspective?
Julian: When I was 16, all my friends had allowances, some more, some less. I asked my dad about it, since I needed money to go out, etc. He decided to give me what we can only call a “per-diem”, ie, he gave me some money at the beginning of the week and asked me to return what was left at the end of the week. I hated him for it, and it taught me a very valuable lesson, how to care for and value the things you earn. I will not subject Felix to this, because I still think it was a bit unnecessary, but my point is, raising good children means teaching them values; the value of things, the value of people, the value of relationships, the value of good deeds and bad deeds. What the actual value is, we will work out in the way, and he will work out his own scale, but as long as he knows how to measure it, he can make informed decisions.
Maltese Daddy: What “wisdadm” (A combination of wisdom and dad) would you share with our readers?
Julian: For me, fatherhood came with an instinct to what is right for him. You get a feeling of when he is upset and why he is upset, for instance, as soon as he came home I got the feeling he wasn’t feeding correctly because he wasn’t strong enough, so we talked about giving him some formula to help him grow the first few days, and we decided to go to breastfeeding clinic and ask. They told us to give him some formula the first days…
So, my wisdadm is: follow your instincts, they are usually right.
Julian I am literally speechless, you nailed this interview and I am sure Felix is very lucky having you as a father. Seeing how you answered shows clearly that fatherhood showed your true color of being a great and amazing dad. Thank you and goodluck.
Announcement – Like what you see? Share Julian’s message as every dad has his own wisdadm! Would you like to share your dadventures? Message me and lets set up a meeting 😀
