Parenting Strategies: From Zone to Man-to-Man

Last week, during the morning of 10/11/16, at 3:06am, my second child was born.

All parenting cliche’s aside, there’s one thing I know for sure – shit’s gonna be different.

Now don’t get me wrong – that first kid is the true game-changer, because from shooting open three’s and layups there’s suddenly someone playing Tony Allen-like defense on our asses. On the other side of the court, from chilling with a bottle of green Gatorade enjoying the breeze against our skin, my wife and I have gone to getting harshly dunked on by a Manimal unless we stay agile on our toes.

2 on 1 parenting

But parenting is doable with one kid – you get used to it. You get into a rhythm. You either take turns and tag-team – allowing one parent to rest while the other breaks a sweat (and risks injury) on offense, or you join hands running a 2 on 1 zone on defense which makes it, even against the best, manageable.

It’s fun. You get to rest sometimes, and when you play, you more often than not – win.

Granted, parenting is not a competition – not between the parents nor the children, but it is a long and hard practice that at the end of it everyone’s exausted and, if they played the right way… better than they were before.

2 on 2 parenting

Not yet sure what happens with two. What is clear is that we’re going to have to reevaluate our game-plan and some of the strategies that have been working until now;

Zone defense is no longer as effective, because when we take turns we’re suddenly at a 1 on 2 disadvantage. On offense and on defense. Man-to-man seems like the best strategy for now, but three year olds (our oldest) are competitive little buggers, and babies are flat-out superstars on the court.

Time is my scarcest resource – between delivering client work and growth, my personal and business growth, writing (this blog post was interrupted 6, make that 7 times since I sat down to write it) and actually doing things I like, how do I win? How do we all win?

Is parenting doable with two kids? It’s been done before…. Is it doable for me? I’ll make it work…

I just have no fucking clue how yet. Do you?