Eric, the modern father

Recently, I witnessed an interesting conversation between my mom and one of her lifelong friends. They proclaimed how proud they are that their kids are such good parents and how parenting has changed so much from when they were raising little ones. True. For example, it was the exception, not the rule, to have children in seat belts as they rode in a car when we were little. Now, we wouldn't think of stepping near a car without our kids in their 5-point harness car seats. Eric and I frequently laugh about how different things are now compared to when we were little and wonder what things we're doing now that will cause our kids to roll their eyes at once they're parents to their own children.

While moving pictures from our camera to the computer, I ran across pictures of Eric wearing Conor. Let's face it - slings weren't very common until fairly recently and I can't imagine very many dads in past generations happily carrying their infants around in them. The idea of my father (and most of his counterparts) lugging any of his kids around in a sling makes me laugh; it simply wouldn't have happened. That generation of father (typically) was less hands on than modern dads. Each time I see Eric with our kids, I fall in love with him even more and smile just a bit wider.

Eric... the modern man, the modern father.