Well, suck it up. This is part of being a parent. You now have to learn a new skill. Being a guardian. Guiding and coaching a human being. Helping them up when they fall down, celebrate their wins. Accompany them in growing up into being a decent adult. That’s not an easy thing to do. You will want to cry and rip your hair out watching them struggle. If you are invested in them and really care. Or you skip that, go off to work and in a couple of years they are out of the house and you won’t have to see them again.

I know this is coming across very harsh and your reality most likely falls somewhere on the spectrum, but I am serious. Your time with your child is not coming back. Every day is a day with something they do for the first time and with some they do for the last time. I hope you take naps with them. It’s the one thing I miss the most.

Remember, nobody ever said on their death bed: I wish I had worked more.

Work will still be there when your kid grows up. And they will, faster then you’ll want them to.

I cope with this by shifting my priorities. I’m a husband first, father second and then some other things, one of them being an employee.

My private time is spend with private things and I have an employer who understands learning is part of the job description, so I am learning on company time.

And I work in a company that is living a culture of “together” instead of some kind of competition.

I have a clear defined career path within my company that I can advance at my own pace.

Of course, since I am not coding 12 hours a day, I don’t expect to ever win a coding Oscar. Good thing, there is none.