Another Father's Thoughts

I talked to my cousin David Meeks about his views on fatherhood, raising teen-agers and learning how to text.
Age? 43
Number of children and their ages? Two, 17 and 14
Occupation? Deployed Forces Coordinator (for the Navy)
What is it like raising two teen-agers? They’re a lot busier. It’s crazy now that Ryan can drive. So we never see him. We’re fortunate that they’re still highly involved with events and sports or whatever so we’re able to keep tabs on them.
Now they have decisions they have to make that can actually shape the rest of their lives. Who they go out, what they do, they make their own decisions. When they’re younger, you try to teach them the right things. Now you hope they were listening. There’s a lot of responsibility for them. Trying to guide them earlier in life was easier than it is now.
But they’re two great kids who allow us to be involved in what they do. We haven’t had any of the teen-age issues that you hear about.
How do you balance career and family responsibilities? What kind of challenges does you career present? A lot of it is when I’m traveling, and I do travel a lot. That gets in the way of some big things. Ryan being a senior, I have to try to juggle what can I miss when I’m away. These are big events. Obviously we have graduation coming up, and proms. Trying to juggle my travel schedule, I will miss some things. These are some big checkmarks on the list that you don’t want to miss. I made it clear that I won’t miss graduation. But there are some things I will miss.
For Jenna, I did miss some (softball) tournaments. (David is a coach for her travel team). But if I didn’t have my job, I wouldn’t be able to pay for the travel for the softball. The biggest thing is the travel part because I do have a great schedule. Every day I’m off early so I can get to practice. And I have a very accommodating boss.
How has fatherhood changed since you were a child? How are you a different father than your father? My dad never had to learn how to text message. 

Trying to keep up with the technology that your kids use is tough. But that’s how we communicate. If you call them, they will not answer the phone. But if you text them, you get an answer right away.
We were always at the house, either outside playing or inside the house. Kids today don’t play around the house. They have to go do things. They have a lot more freedom than we had, and I think the technology has helped that. They can go across town, and we can keep in touch with them. There’s a lot more distance than we were kids.
What is the best part about being a father? When other people come up from all different types of situation and tell you how good your kids were or how grown up or mature they were in certain situations. That just makes you so proud that they’re able to act that mature even when we’re not there.
That just is awesome, especially when you’re away and you have to entrust your kids with other people. ... That I think really gives me the best feeling in the world.