Our 413th Dad in the Limelight is Marcus Shields. I want to thank Marcus 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 Marcus Shields (you can call me Marcus Lane) and I am a radio junkie who likes to run and blog. I am a 32 year old husband and father living life in the Pacific Northwest. I am a husband to a bombshell wifey and a father to two wonderful kiddos. I have always wanted to be an active father and be involved as much as I can. I have strong opinions about fathers being active and present in their kids lives and working with their partner to support and love their children together as a team.
2) Tell me about your family
I have been a husband for almost 6 years now and within those 6 years my wifey and I have had 2 children. Turner, who is called Mr. T just turned four and Darla, show is knows as Toddler D will be two next month. They are an absolute joy in my life! I am the type of father who loves to be involved in anything and everything within their lives. I work full time with seniors suffering from dementia, I go to school full time, working on my Master’s degree in Aging Services Management from USC and I spend the rest of my time with the family. We live in the Pacific Northwest and love exploring anything and everything between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. I love being able to capture little moments that my children have. I blog about our adventures and what happens in our lives and use the blog as a personal journal of my adventures with being a husband and father. (blog address www.marcuslaneblog.com)
3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?The biggest challenge has been adapting to the on going changes with each child. I am the father to two kids, two very different kids. Each of them has their own unique personalities and what works with one of them, may not work with the other. It can be difficult at times but it is important to step back and evaluate the situation, decide what to do and go from there. My kids seem to be changing and developing so quickly that some days it is just hard to keep up. But it makes it all worth at the end of each busy day.
4) What advice would you give to other fathers?
Make time to spend quality time with your kids. Create good memories for them that will help create them and their personalities as they grow up. Since I work daily with seniors who have memory loss, I want to create as many fun and positive memories that I can with my children. I want them to be able to look back at all of the things they visited, toured, saw and did while growing up. I am always looking for new adventures to take my kids on, and then I document them on my blog where they can have access to the posts in the future.
5) How have you come to balance parenthood and outside life? My life is all about time management. Everyone is busy and has lots of things going on in their lives. It’s true, we are all busy, it’s not just you. The tricky part is being able to include everyone and everything and making time for them. It’s important to make time for the important factors and not to waste your time on the small or minor events in our life. I am now at the point where I don’t waste my time or energy on things that are not positive and worth while. It seems to help things run more smoothly and organized as I live life day by day and week by week.
6) What have you learned from the fathers that you have interacted with?
I was blessed to have a very involved father. He was a lawyer and father to seven children. He was available and ready to help as needed. I have also seen other fathers who were not available for their children. Since I became a father I made the decision that I would be a very active and involved parent. I am a daddy blogger and proud of what I am doing for me, my kids and my family. I try to set a good example for other fathers who may think their computer games or their job is more important than their kids. Life can and will get so crazy at time, but family will always be most important to me.
7) What else would you share regarding your experiences as a father thus far?It is very important to set a good example. Growing up, I observed anything and everything and looked up to my father and to my friends fathers. I think it is important
8) What have been the most memorable experiences that you have had thus far as a parent?
I love having a good day with the kiddos and having them be so happy when you put them down for bed that night. They can’t stop talking about how much fun they had, or how much they enjoyed the adventure that day, yet as soon as they lay their head down on their pillow they are fast asleep. That is when I know as a parent that I have done something good and right for that day. It feels good to be a father, it feels good to be a husband, it feels good to be a family man.
Find out more about Marcus here:
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/
marcuslane14 - Blog – www.marcuslaneblog.com
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/
marcuslane14 - Instagram – http://instagram.com/
markielane#
If you have any questions for Marcus, please leave a comment here and I will make sure that he gets them so that he may be able to respond!
Also, do you know a Dad in the Limelight? If so, please email me their contact information so that they too can be a part of this series!
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Thanks for the great interview and post. I truly appreciate it!
My pleasure… it was great getting to know you as well and hope you will come and read about the other great dads in the series too!
Well done Marcus!! You’re amazing.
Go Marco go! fun post!
Thanks Monica for stopping by!
I love that you talk about putting kids and family ahead of everything else, including dropping out of minor things that may be a waste of time and simply less important than family. Good comments, Marcus. You are a fun dad and your kids are lucky to have you.
Totally agree that Marcus is a fun dad, and I was happy to have him in the series. Hope that you will come and explore more of the great dads we have in the series too!
Thank you Mr. Bauman!! Who has time to waste, honestly?!