Category: Fatherhood

The Other Essential Workers: Parents

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date May 5, 2020
No Comments on The Other Essential Workers: Parents

One question that COVID-19 has brought to the forefront of our societal conversations is, Who are the essential workers?

The first professions that immediately spring to mind are obvious: doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers. However, the pandemic has proven that there are additional tiers and classes of essential workers, including grocery store employees, delivery drivers, warehouse employees, non-frontline healthcare employees, and teachers.

My wife and I are in these last two categories.

Tags COVID-19, Fatherhood, Life, Parenting, Work, Work Life Balance

Fatherhood Life Writing

I’m Keeping a COVID-19 Journal

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date April 9, 2020
No Comments on I’m Keeping a COVID-19 Journal

I’m not a journaler by nature.

Yes, I have written down my innermost thoughts on occasion, but generally I jot down short quick notes on almost everything that pops into my brain that I then compile to use later for writing that I will publish, either here or in my newsletter.

Yet I felt that living through a time when a viral droplet infection — a silent, invisible killer — raced across the globe and was documented in real time was as good an occasion as any to keep a daily record of my thoughts.

Tags COVID-19, Health, Journal, Life, Writing

Children Fatherhood Parenting

Instagram Dads vs. Real Dads

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date March 20, 2020
2 Comments on Instagram Dads vs. Real Dads

We’ve all seen it — an image of a father and his child, perfectly framed, beautifully lit, adorned with smiles and a caption of how much they adore being a parent.

I look at those photos and I’m envious. I have a few of them, but not a collection like some I’ve seen online. I’ve been to wonderful places with my children and we’ve experienced some fantastic things, but nearly all of my pictures are either selfies or family poses that often look forced.

Tags Children, Dads, Fatherhood, Instagram, Parenthood, Parenting

Career Fatherhood Life Work

The Ten Words That Changed My Life

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date December 9, 2019
No Comments on The Ten Words That Changed My Life

For the first time in my career, I wa s f ailing.

Tags Career, Fatherhood, Work, Work Life Balance

Children Fatherhood Lessons Life Parenting

My Children Help Me Battle My OCD (Just By Being Themselves)

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date April 16, 2019
No Comments on My Children Help Me Battle My OCD (Just By Being Themselves)

“Life is a long lesson in humility.”

— James Barrie

It’s a cliché that having a child changes your life forever, but things become clichés because they’re true, and one of the biggest adjustments is just how much stuff children come with and how difficult it is to keep it all organized.

Tags Children, Clean, Home, House, Kids, Mental Health, OCD, Organized, Parenthood, Parenting

Children Fatherhood Life Parenting

As a Father of Girls…

As a father of girls…

Tags Children, Fatherhood, IVF, Kids, Parenthood, Parenting

Career Fatherhood Life Work

Don’t Break the Chain: The Value of Persistence

Post author By Christopher Pierznik
Post date January 21, 2019
No Comments on Don’t Break the Chain: The Value of Persistence

I began playing organized basketball at the age of six.

By the age of ten, I was playing year-round for various travel teams in various leagues, almost always in the age bracket above mine. There was never an offseason. Camps, practices, summer leagues, fall leagues, spring leagues, open gyms – I did it all. When state rules prevented us from holding official practices, we all met at our point guard’s home and conducted practices on the full court in his backyard.

Basketball was an everyday thing.

Tags Career, Life, LIfe Lessons, Persistence, Success, Work, Work Life Balance, Writing

Children Fatherhood

Our IVF Journey

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

I.

My second time visiting an operating room as an expectant father was different from the first in a variety of ways.

It was in a different hospital in a different city with different doctors.

Most of all, though, it was planned.

The baby was so big that a Cesarean section (C-section) was scheduled on the morning of her due date. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m., my wife was being prepped at 7:30, and she was taken into the OR at 8:30.

At 9:07 a.m., we had a big, healthy baby girl.

For the second time.

When our brand new daughter was first given to us, my wife looked at her and said, “It took so long for you to get here.”