[ale] How Do I Get Involved?

[Jim Kinney]

Yeah. With the age ranges there, you will be pretty much confined to small
child care-givers. But my wife and I found out early on how to swap out and
get some adult interaction time. I had one thing I did and she had her one
thing. It was a given that unless the other was deathly ill, that one thing
was going to happen. And thus, sanity prevailed (mostly).

For me, geeking out on the computer was in the house. So I could be both
home AND out. It was really good for my wife to have her stuff out of the
house so she could get that mental break. As time progressed, that out of
the house thing for both became school as I did grad school and she finished
her B.S.

It was a long time before we went out together with NO KIDS, though (10
years - way too long!).

Now we regularly dump the monsters at home with uncle Wii and pop off down
to the pub for a pint :-) OK. so he's 10 and she's 18 (and can be a
designated driver!). In fact it's hard to leave them as they want to go to
the brick and eat!

A philosophy I have had my entire parenting life: My job is raise the kids
to LEAVE HOME! Push the baby birds from the nest! As I've told the big one,
she can leave home with mom and dad helping her carry stuff to her car or
she can leave home and we change the locks - her choice :-)

2008/12/17 Marc Ferguson <marcferguson at gmail.com>

>
> 2008/12/17 Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
>
> Simple (HA!). Just as I make commitments to my family, I also make
>> commitments to my professional and social life. So I meet friends for a beer
>> and conversation or ALE meetings. I also have rejoined a wind orchestra to
>> get some music performance back in my life.
>>
>> My wife does similar (except she does pottery instead of ALE meetings - go
>> figure....)
>>
>> My kids are a tad older, but this has been a good thing for them. They see
>> Mom and Dad as people not just care-givers for them.
>>
>> 2008/12/17 Marc Ferguson <marcferguson at gmail.com>
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>> I have a silly LIFE question and hopefully someone with the a similar
>>> scenario can help me out.  I'm going to kind of open myself up - so be kind
>>> in your responses.
>>>
>>> I am a web developer with an extreme love or linux and FOSS.  I have
>>> three young kids all under the age of 4 and I'm married.  I want to get
>>> involved in our user group and in the linux community.  At some point I plan
>>> to learn Python so I can contribute to a project, but I need to figure out
>>> how can I get involved with our user group.  I have all the meetings
>>> scheduled in Google Calendar, but I haven't been able to pull away from the
>>> family to attend one.  I guess at some point I'll have to put my foot down,
>>> but I'm kind of a dedicated father/husband so my family's needs trump my
>>> own.
>>>
>>> So far I blog about my own linux adventures (www.fergytech.com) and I
>>> listen to tons of linux podcasts (to keep myself in the loop).  Thanks for
>>> any suggestions and I look forward to hearing your responses.
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Marc F.
>>>
>>> "Powered by Fedora, Driven by the Internet" -Marc F
>>> "..Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to
>>> come.." -Rev1:4
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Ale mailing list
>>> Ale at ale.org
>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> James P. Kinney III
>>
>>
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>>
>>
> Yah, that's really what we've become thus far, caregivers to our kids.  So
> we have a 3wk-yr-old, 2 yr old and a 3 yr old.  I figure this would be the
> toughest time in our lives, but things should get better (meaning mommy and
> daddy can take a break) once they get older.
>
> On another note, I'll take that other advice about paying more attention to
> the mailing list.  You're right, there are some great conversations here.
> Good deal!
>
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>
>


-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
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