Un père de trois enfants s’écrit une lettre à lui-même et toutes les mamans seront d’accord avec ses propos.

Ted Gonder est peut-être un jeune papa, mais il a quand même déjà trois enfants.

Voilà que tout récemment, Ted a eu la brillante idée de commencer à s’écrire une lettre à lui-même afin de se souvenir à quel point sa vie a changé depuis qu’il est devenu père. Toutefois, le père avait un autre objectif en tête en écrivant cette lettre et il s’agissait non seulement de rendre hommage à la mère de ses enfants, mais aussi, de rappeler aux jeunes pères qu’il est très important de reconnaître le travail unique et inspirant des mamans.

Voici donc quelques extraits de cette lettre très touchante qui a obtenu 71 000 mentions « j’aime » ainsi que 58 000 partages:

 

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It was impossible not to smile when we arrived at the beach today after a collective 18 hours of driving over the weekend. Düsseldorf?Lacanau . Over the next couple of weeks we are on the beach in France, adventuring as a family. Definitely going to be posting about the workouts and excursions we are on while here. . A few quick reflections to rattle off: 1. Driving 18 hours with a four year old, 1 year old, and newborn in the back might sound insane. But with enough games/snacks, an early enough start to the drive, and an attitude of adventure (experience/abundance) rather than vacation (escapism/scarcity), it was actually pretty fun. . 2. Breaking up the long drive with “workout stops” is key for us staying happy. Today we stopped at 6am for burpees and calisthenics (yes especially the four and one year old – they loved it!), stopped again every 2 hours for little micro workouts. Gets the blood flowing and helps the driver (usually me!) from getting drowsy behind the wheel on 5 hours of sleep. . 3. Posted this a while back but healthy snacks are key. Our car is loaded with protein bars, nuts, fruit, avocados, rice crackers, and sugar free candies. Could we be even healthier? I’m sure, yes. But the point is that we are staying fueled up and not having to buy unhealthy snacks at gas stations (expensive and yucky. . 4. Caffeine. Sorry for the caffeine haters but this one is hard for me to get around as driver. On 5 or 6 hours sleep driving my fam through the night, I want to be on high alert for deer and other animals crossing country roads, and other drivers that may not be driving carefully. So there was a decent amount of coffee, sugar free Red Bull, and Diet Coke consumption. These aren’t daily drinks (well a cup or two of the coffee is) but today I said to my heart “hey bro – take a small sacrifice for me today…I’ll make it up to you in other ways later “… . 5. Gratitude mindset! For many, vacationing with three kids sounds stressful. And it is! But gratitude puts the stress in perspective. Makes it easier to stay calm and flow. I’m grateful I can work from anywhere and savor quality time w my fam before starting full time work again soon. .

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« J’ai maintenant 29 ans, et avec ma femme Franziska, nous avons trois merveilleux enfants. Elle les a tous portés et mis au monde comme une vraie pro. Voici donc ce que je dirais à mon « moi sans enfants » de 24 ans sur la manière de soutenir sa partenaire pendant cette phase où l’on devient parents.

 

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My wife @franzilovesmonday is such a badass. 39 weeks pregnant ? and still getting in her 10,000 steps per day, crushing yoga and kettlebell flows, working practically full time for two clients, and being an awesome mom. – She does it all because she loves it all, and she is 100% shamelessly herself. – Which also means she isn’t afraid to say when she is having a hard day, or that it is all too much and she needs help. – Her willingness to be herself and ask for help has invited me to rise up as a more supportive partner and engaged dad than I could have imagined myself becoming when we decided to build our family. I was still 24 and she was 27, we didn’t have any friends our age with kids, and didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. We just had a vision for our family and knew we were going to be on this life journey together. So we leapt into it. But I was scared to the bone that I’d be an inadequate family man. – Her belief in me is a huge part of the reason I’ve proven that fear wrong for myself. – And that’s how we meet each other every single day. With realness about our human flaws and struggles, overflowing unrelenting love, the daily decision to recommit, and the easy choice to believe in each other even more than we did the previous day.

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« Ta petite femme a porté le bébé dans son ventre pendant neuf mois. Donc c’est ensuite à toi de porter le bébé sur ton ventre pendant les neuf mois suivants, à chaque fois que l’occasion se présente. Non seulement, ça permettra à ta femme de récupérer, mais ça créera un lien puissant entre toi et ton enfant, bien plus que tu ne peux l’imaginer.

 

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My wife @franzilovesmondays with a brilliant dose of perspective, truth, and gratitude. ⠀⠀ “Lets talk #paternityleave – I have never felt so emotionally safe and protected than during this postpartum journey. Why? Because @tedgonder had the chance to take a 4-week paternity leave from his #remote leadership position while kids were on summer break and new life moved into our house. Here is what this meant for us and got me thinking about: – he was able to take the boys on adventurous afternoons and get their energy out while I recovered and rested with little Atlas – we were able to sync as a family and feel connected from day one (and yes…that is important for dads too!!) – we share the love, the new emotional labor of caring for another child, and the commitment to making this family adventure a meaningful one (not exhausting one) for all of us – because I was living with and surrounded by my sister, our best friend and the kids’ god father and my husband plus my mum I never had the feeling that I have to toughen up and just do it on my own. Where are all the communities and mama supporters these days? How have we as mums gotten to the point where motherhood is a race to the top rather than a shared vision of raising a village of strong, fun, fulfilled, and connected kids? – have we ever thought about the correlation of postpartum #depression and loneliness? Becoming a mom…no matter whether its for the first, second, or fifth time is a hormonal and physical sensation that should be a) appreciated and b) enjoyed… With my husband at home I feel like I was 100% able to do so. – last but not least: those boys are also my husband’s kids. He loves them. He wants to be around them. He wants to make them feel like that we are a strong-rooted family… So why would he not benefit emotionally from this break of everyday work-AND family life and just be a #dad for a moment? ⠀⠀ As an entrepreneurial family, I am shouting this out to all other fellow entrepreneurs thinking about the #mentalhealth of their employees. Be at the forefront of making life possible for your teams- that is how potential and productivity get unleashed” #mytinytribe #baby #mom #digitalnomad

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« Ta femme allaite, et bien que ça la rende belle et épanouie, c’est épuisant pour elle. Donc à toi de changer CHAQUE couche que tu peux, et ce, dès la première. Tu passeras rapidement au-dessus du dégoût, tu verras. En plus, ça t’évitera bon nombre de disputes et de ressentiments dans ta relation. D’ailleurs, quand toutes les copines de ta femme se plaindront du manque de soutien de leurs maris, ta femme se vantera de t’avoir.

« Prépare-lui le café tous les matins. Même si elle le laisse refroidir ou qu’elle oublie de le boire la plupart des fois, parce qu’elle se rendort pendant que tu pars au travail, ou que (plus tard) tu prépares les enfants pour aller à l’école. Elle n’a pas dormi de la nuit pour nourrir le bébé, alors aide-la à commencer sa journée de la meilleure manière qui soit.

 

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Thank you, my love, for our beautiful children. Thank you for your family and relationship vision and belief in what we could build together, especially during times when I lacked proactive vision. Thank you for reminding me to take myself less seriously (especially in the mornings before coffee). Thank you for your courage to be radically yourself regardless of what others–including me–have thought. Thank you for owning your fears and asking for help when you need it. Thank you for taking care of your head and heart so that you have lasting emotional energy in the tank. Thank you for taking care of your body so you can participate as an equal partner with me physically, even through multiple pregnancies. Thank you for voicing your feelings before they are opinions, and the trust it takes for you to know I will hear you out before judging your feelings. Thank you for the patience to help me appreciate your invested household emotional labor–and then share the load. Thank you for always raising the bar for yourself, for us, for me–you make complacency impossible. And thank you for setting this example for our boys, of a strong, self-respecting, boundary-setting, ultrareal, baggage-shedding, norm-challenging, professionally ambitious, and fun-loving woman. It’s such a joy to grow this garden with you. #family #love #relationshipgoals

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« Dis-lui qu’elle est belle, et aide-la à le voir, surtout dans les moments où elle se sent le plus vulnérable et désespérée au sujet de son corps. Rappelle-lui tous les moments où elle a atteint ses objectifs par le passé. Rappelle-lui que c’est une super-héroïne. Elle a littéralement bougé tous ses organes et a pris 20 kg afin de te donner un enfant, qui sera pour toujours le plus beau des cadeaux. Aide-la à surpasser ses problèmes liés à son image corporelle et à rester concentrée sur un objectif positif, jour après jour.

 

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Happy International Women’s Day to my better half.

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« Donne-lui de la chaleur. Les hormones la rendront folle, avant et après la naissance. Elle n’aura pas l’air d’être vraiment elle-même chaque jour, et parfois, elle dira même des choses qu’elle ne dirait jamais si elle n’avait pas constamment l’impression d’avoir la gueule de bois et de prendre de la caféine et des stéroïdes. Rappelle-toi que ton travail est d’être son roc, l’épaule sur laquelle elle pourra s’appuyer. Alors tiens bon et serre les dents quand sa langue fourche et lui fait dire des choses auxquelles elle ne pense pas. Son état normal reviendra bientôt, et elle te sera alors reconnaissante d’avoir gardé ton contrôle et maintenu le cap quand elle ne pouvait plus le faire. Elle ne gardera aucun ressentiment ou déception quant à cette période. »

Wow! Quelle lettre inspirante!

Merci à Ted d’avoir partagé ces précieux conseils!

Source: Sympa Sympa · Crédit Photo: Capture d’écran

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