“I’m a Dad With Depression But I’m Doing All I Can So It Won’t Affect My Parenting”

This here is a personal piece, much as any piece you find my byline on that relates to parenting is and will be personal. It’s not like I don’t talk openly about my experiences with behavioral health and the crushing weight of depression as a part of my daily life; if you meet me, or if you follow me online, I’m generally pretty open about these subjects, because I don’t believe for one second that not talking about them is in anyone’s best interests. Not mine, not yours, not others who struggle with depression, not my wife’s, not my daughter’s.

What I’m getting at in this particular piece relates specifically to my relationship with B and my fears and concerns over how my depression could affect my parenting, and how it could affect her. I don’t want to be a bad dad. I also don’t want to be a sad dad. I know I’m being kinda cutesy here, but these are real anxieties, and I felt compelled to interrogate them. 

You can read the whole piece over at Parents.com.

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