The Dads Who Give Their Children The World
This week, I want to celebrate the Fathers who, like mine, took their families on the path of discovery. Enjoy these first stories now and come back all week long to see more stories of men who have built enriching location independent lives for their families while raising children on the road.
My dad moved to New York in the late eighties. I spent my summers there as I was growing up, transported from the post-Soviet Ukraine to the Upper East Side. Those summers were filled with discovery, as Dad introduced me to the life in this new and wonderful world through weekends out in the city, trips to Washington DC, Florida, Niagara Falls, and countless day trips out of town. Two memories had a particularly strong and lasting effect: the Gay Parade and The Mall in Washington DC.
Sitting in an outdoor cafe in Greenwich village with my dad and heavily pregnant stepmom eating a gigantic ice cream float I gazed at the colorful people passing by, covered in glitter and body paint, with the most incredible outfits. Men cuddling with each other, women looking very different from those in the Ukraine or the neighborhood where we lived, dancing to crazy beats on top of colorful floats passing by on 6th avenue... The few hours we spent there opened a whole new world to me, a sense of curiosity, full acceptance of humans as they are, and letting go.
My second profound experience was when I saw Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory painting IRL at the Mall. I had seen his work in books before but this direct experience was incredibly powerful and triggered a lifelong love of art in me which I have carried through the years.
The experiences of those trips ignited my curiosity about the world, taught me to celebrate differences, appreciate change, and welcome the unknown.
John Lee is a location independent entrepreneur and the father of Rosa, Esme, and Barra.
John is the Founder of www.WFA.team - a tech enabled tax resource for digital nomads and international remote workers.
We caught up with John as part of our #FathersDay initiative where we profile amazing fathers who give their children the World.
TFW: What does fatherhood mean to you?
John: Words will never really do it justice, but I'll try. When you meet your soulmate, as I did in Dee, you think your heart could burst it's so full of deep love and joy for someone else. You think you couldn't possibly find any more love there. But then you have kids, and suddenly you find another truck load of love in your heart that you never thought you could possibly have.
TFW: What do you feel are the most important lessons you are teaching your children to prepare them for adulthood?
John: I'm a big believer in having a strong balance between your mind, body, heart and soul, so if I can somehow help my children find their own way to get that balance I'd be very grateful. If there were three characteristics I really try to foster within my kids, it would be love, adventure and resilience. It's a tough world out there, in many ways, especially when you look at social media, much tougher than it was when I was growing up. So that means I need to encourage, in a balanced way, a kind of mental and spiritual fortitude in my kids to help them weather whatever storms come their way. But the overriding lesson is one of love, and a real sense of adventure.
TFW: What's been your children's favorite country so far? And how many countries have they been to?
John: Rosa in particular has got such a selection to go from, considering she's already been to 23 countries and she's only 4! Esmé much fewer countries and little Barra is only 9 week's old. But for Rosa I know she'd say Thailand. 3 years on and she can still do the Thai greeting. The people there were amazing with kids and I'll never forget collecting Rosa from the creche on our last day there. I'm not too emotional but I did shed a tear that day. To think, someone who before this trip was a total stranger, who could then show so much love to my daughter, it kind of overwhelmed me.
Meet Andreas Wil Gerdes, a serial entrepreneur and the Co-Founder of The #MaNaBuMovement (MNBM) which Empoweres Children to become advocates of a #kinder and #sustainable future. Andreas currently lives in Malta with his partner and children Maya 8, Magnus 2, and Mira, soon to be 1. We caught up with Andreas to ask him a few questions about his experience as a Father.
TFW: What does fatherhood mean to you?
Andreas: Being present and alive, with lots of growing and glowing included.
TFW: What do you feel are the most important lessons you are teaching your children to prepare them for adulthood?
Andreas: To treasure and to grow their connection to nature aka Mother Earth, to listen to their inner voice, and to trust themselves, anytime, anywhere.
TFW: What's been your children's favorite country so far?
Andreas: The Greater Mediterranean - and all connected to it.
TFW: And how many countries have they been to?
Andreas:" We stopped counting. They actually remember and relate to people and places - man-made borders do not really feature in their way of living life.
We did an interview with Maciej and his partner, Matilde, a while back and loved what he had to say about the example he and Matilde are giving their children as they go through their everyday lives.
If you're stressed by work, if you're stressed by rush hours in the car, if you're stressed by the subway, people pushing, you big cities, and all those things - that's what you're going to give to your children. We're pushing ourselves, pushing our own limits and breaking our comfort zones one after another and they get that.
We find ourselves having time for work, having time for children, and having time for ourselves. We like to act like bridges, because we are not from here but we know the local reality. So whenever we host tourists or we show the place to people not from here, we are able to make the connection.