First and foremost, congrats, whether you are going to become a dad or already a dad, there is a no bigger or exciting thing that may happen in your life. You have the great responsibility of molding a young mind and guiding your child well past adolescence and maybe even into their parenthood. Being a father can also be scary, unsure if you are ready to handle this responsibility.
Will you be able to provide for your family ?
Will I teach them the correct things?
Will I screw this up?
How do I do this?
For first-generation fathers like myself, you are doing all this in a country that is not your birth country. So you are entering into this stage of your life without family support or close friends. This life-changing event can cause additional stress to an already stressful time in your life.
Just to be clear, a first-gen dad is not only immigrants in a new country, but can also mean a dad who has foreign-born parents who have relocated and become citizens or permanent residents in a new country. Even if you have relocated to a different state or place, which is far from your comfort zone, we include you too.
This site is to help first generation fathers find a level of support to answer questions like:
How do I teach my culture to my child ?
How do I make sure my side of the family is represented in my child’s life ?
How do I make sure my child has a balanced life with two or three cultures ?
Although everyone is different and has different experiences, we all go through very similar challenges. The first few couples of months can be difficult when the baby is brand new. The first couple of years are also demanding than later years, and as they hit middle school, they become almost functioning, independent adults.
So I hope this blog will help you become an even more awesome dad than you already are, and get to hear and share experiences of our first-generation events.
