Our 163rd Dad in the Limelight is Joe Magennis. I want to thank Joe for being a part of this series. It has been great getting connected with him and now sharing him with all of you.
1) Tell me about yourself, (as well as how you are in the limelight for my readers knowledge)
My name is Joe Magennis. When I was in junior high school my Dad told me I should aspire to “go into computers”. This advice was dispensed somewhere around the release of the TRS-80, and it took me quite some time before I was able to grok this wisdom. It was not until many years later, when I first dialed in to the Internet through a Prodigy account, that I started to get a sense of excitement about the connectivity that lay before us.
I left behind a corporate career track to focus on introducing Internet technologies to traditional businesses just as the earliest dot-com crash happened. That event forced me to hone my skills as an entrepreneur and sharpen my understanding of communication strategies across a variety of platforms.
Today, I am immersed in content creation. Whether it is creating content for the sake of expanding a brand’s reputation in the marketplace or taking advantage of podcasting technologies to pursue my passion for baseball history at Baseballisms.com, I am exploring online content. Also, by observing the abundance of content appearing on the Internet, I believe that content curation is the next great vocation to aspire to.
At last count, I am the host or co-host of five podcasts including the Geek Dads Weekly podcast.
2) Tell me about your family
I started a family much later in life, getting married at age 41 and having my first child at 43 years of age. We now have two girls currently ages 5 and 2.5, who will be keeping me young for years to come.
3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?
With the arrival of our second child, we decided that I would work from home and take care of the baby (thus was born the original podcast, Geek Dads at Home). The experience was exhilarating in many ways, but was also extremely challenging. As she grew and required more attention, my ability to function effectively in my work was severely hampered. It required a shift in work hours to late evenings.
Fortunately, a majority of the tasks that I was performing were flexible. I do have some lingering feelings that although we spent a great deal of time together, my youngest did not have the head start in terms of socialization that my oldest did, while she attended daycare at a very early age.
4) What advice would you give to other fathers?
Take advantage of the technology that we have available for preserving today’s memories. I have early words recorded in mp3 files, first steps captured on digital camera, and over 6000 photos uploaded to my Flickr account.
We are fortunate to be living in an age of rapid technological advancement, and we have the ability to easily document and record the moments that might otherwise slip away. Many years from now, we will be grateful that we took the time to capture events, stored them safely (backups!), and upgraded the files whenever necessary. We will never be sorry that we have these!
5) Seeing that you (or your position) are in the limelight, how have you come to balance parenthood and outside life? If you are currently not in the limelight per se, please still answer this in regards to how you balance parenthood and outside life.
I am still very flexible in my working hours and spend many quality hours with the girls. One of the best bits of advice my wife and I got before our children were born was to make every attempt to continue leading our lives, and to simply include the kids in the experience. We go on camping trips, spend time at the beach and attend numerous music festivals. (As I write this, our family leaves tomorrow for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival).
6) What have you learned from the fathers that you have interacted with?
I have learned that it is never too early to expose the kids to technology. Both girls are very proficient with the iPad and the oldest knows her way around a browser quite well. It is interesting to observe that the challenge for the youngest at this point is simply the dexterity required to point and click a mouse, while the buttons and swiping of a tablet are intuitive motions.
7) What else would you share regarding your experiences as a father thus far?
Over the years, my wife’s career has taken her on many lengthy trips that have required me to care for the girls as a solo Dad. I sometimes hear compliments and exclamations of wonder about my ability to handle these times .. as if a Dad does not possess the skills to care for his children for any extended period of time. Rubish!
Dads are certainly quite capable of putting hair ties in, giving baths, washing clothes, making beds, and ensuring that the kids brush their teeth twice a day, If any Dad is telling you differently, then they are simply not trying hard enough.
8) What have been the most memorable experiences that you have had thus far as a parent?
If you have any questions for Joe, please leave a comment here and I will make sure that he gets them so that he may be able to respond!
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Interesting blogsite. I am a grandma of 4 and I love reading about Dads like you. Life passes swiftly by and soon enough, they will all be adults and fly somewhere else to roost. I am just passing by, wondering how I got here when all i was looking for were laundry detergent coupons. Not that I need them, was just curious. Cheers.