Non-Dad Tip (Applicable Only If You Aren't a Dad Yet)

I know it's tempting to rush right into fatherhood and try your hand at being a great dad. I get it. But there are things you should do before becoming a dad.

What those things are you need to figure out for yourself because they're different for each and every one of us. These are things that are going to be difficult or impossible with children or things that will have to wait until your youngest is, say, ten to be able to truly enjoy.

And what you want is to be able to have a good time with your wife (if you're married) before you have kids so you have fond memories to look back on when you are looking forward to your future. "More of that," you'll say.

For my wife and I we really wanted to go to Disney World for a few days and a cruise in the Caribbean. We wanted it to be just us, enjoying the company of each other with no stress from the normal world. A time when you can put away your cell phone and forget about it.

That was what we wanted. But times have never been easy and we ended up having Annie before we could do any of that. We did have a cruise booked and mostly paid off before the AF decided that right then would be a good time for me to go into some formal training. We had to cancel the cruise.

Anyway, now that I'm a dad I look at these things to do and think of how Annie will react to them, how Peanut will react to them, and I'm pretty excited, even though I'll have to wait a little while to do these things.

So tip to husbands, or men in husband-like roles: figure out what you want to do sans kids and do them. You'll build memories, you'll experience things in stress-free situations. If you're a dad, it's not the end of the world, heck, you might even enjoy them more, but there may be a bit of a wait in line.