This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz by Laurent Bossavit. Original Post: [grid::fatherhood] Emotions Feed Title: Incipient(thoughts) Feed URL: http://bossavit.com/thoughts/index.rdf Feed Description: You're in a maze of twisty little decisions, all alike. You're in a maze of twisty little decisions, all different. Latest Agile Buzz Posts Latest Agile Buzz Posts by Laurent Bossavit Latest Posts From Incipient(thoughts)

What advice would you have liked to receive when you were a new or expectant father?

"Watch out for strong emotions."

People in the software business tend (as a rule, and naturally with many exceptions) to be intellectual types, dimly aware of their own emotions if at all. I tend to confirm the rule - again with occasional exceptions.

To raise a child is to deal with the unknown. To start with, there's an entire set of skills and techniques you have to learn from scratch - from changing diapers to helping with homework. Then there's the deeper issue of getting to know a brand new person who comes into being under your eyes - it's unsettling enough to get to know a stranger, and a child is that experience squared.

But perhaps most unsettling, at least on occasion, is the way fatherhood makes you a stranger to yourself.

(Gridblogging fatherhood with Dave, Tim, Alan and Richard.)