I am a dad to two young kids. I know other guys my age that are recent dads and some of them do seem to struggle to adjust. I hear about their wives complaining about how they are consistently golfing or still going out a lot.

Another commenter here mentioned that having kids changes you and I 100% agree with that. I don’t drink now, I drive like an old man in the name of safety, I spend almost every night at home with my kids and I take them out on the weekends, I cut my hours at work so I can help my wife more often, I don’t watch sports because my kids won’t sit still long enough to watch a game and want to play. My life now is about these kids. I used to think that people that based their lives solely around their kids had no life, but now that I have these kids I appreciate the sacrifices you make to be a parent. All of these changes I realize are better for me too.

You can talk about philosophically about how to raise kids, but I think the number one quality of a good parent is being present for your kids and being willing to adjust your life to what they need. Growing up the number one thing I noticed about kids that had bad relationships with their parents was their parents not bring around, whether it be work or whatever else.