Our 185th Dad in the Limelight is Mike T. Rose. I want to thank Mike 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)
I’m Michael Rose (@MikeTRose), lead editor of The Unofficial Apple Weblog (tuaw.com). My ‘limelight’ is relevant to a pretty limited audience. 
I do occasionally appear on television as a tech commentator for Fox Business News. I’m also an improviser and actor, tech guru/creative director for a NYC event firm, magazine publishing veteran, voiceover artist, husband and father.
2) Tell me about your family
I met my wife, Rabbi Heidi Hoover (https://www.facebook.com/RabbiHeidiHoover) when we were college students at Carnegie Mellon back in 1989. We’ve been together for 21 years and celebrated our 12th anniversary this past summer. We have two almost-entirely delightful daughters, 6 and 10 years old.
3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?
When Heidi was pregnant with our elder daughter, we both found ourselves worrying about the future and how we would cope with a six-month old, a toddler, the terrible twos, a preschooler — up to a teenager! This future-thinking was a trap, as my wife wisely noted, and she began to insist that we “trust the process” of learning to parent from our daughter, having faith that she would guide and shape our parenting approach just as we helped form her development as a person. Imagining the things you don’t know how to deal with long before you’ve had the experience to deal with them: getting rid of that mental habit, and working to become an aware, mindful and attached father without getting tied up in fear… that’s been the biggest challenge.
4) What advice would you give to other fathers?
“Trust the process.” The ideas you have about how you’re going to ‘be a dad’ are bound to be confounded by reality, so don’t spend your energy in pointless worry over not knowing how to do it. Learn from your kids.
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.
The biggest challenge for me in terms of balance is the 24/7 nature of both my ‘limelight’ position and my regular job. I often find myself doing online work in the evenings, so seeking that line between getting it all done & getting time to be a dad is hard. I wish I had a magic solution for this (more hours in the day!), but what we’ve largely fallen into is that bedtime is Mommy time so that I have a bit of a window to work.
6) What have you learned from the fathers that you have interacted with?
People don’t hug their kids enough. All the dads I look to as exemplars of positive parenting have an easy physical rapport with their kids, and I want to emulate that. It may get more difficult as they get older. I’ve also seen dads who maintain a sense of humor with their kids, and I try to do that — without always succeeding.
7) What else would you share regarding your experiences as a father thus far?
Being a dad has been the most rewarding, frustrating, humbling, joyful, surprising experience of my life. My kids have an endless ability to delight me while keeping me firmly in my place. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
What have been the most memorable experiences that you have had thus far as a parent?
There have been many, but one certainly stands apart: the birth of our second daughter, who arrived somewhat precipitously — at home, without midwife or medical assistance, on our bathroom floor. We hadn’t planned on a home birth, and certainly not one where I would be the only birth attendant, but welcoming her to our family was one of the most extraordinary moments of my life. When I have a rough day at work or am facing a challenging situation, I sometimes remind myself that if I can help bring a new person into the world, I can handle the little bumps and detours.
If you have any questions for Mike, 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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