Subset of original picture, from left ot right:
Dryopithecus, Oreopithecus, Australopithecus, Advanced Australopithecus, Cro-Magnon, Modern man
Among the things of life, a little boy arrived to me in September 2024.
I won't talk here about what being a father is, there's no interest as it's something highly personnal and for which experience, feelings, emotional and relational will differ for everyone.
Also, don't expect to get some It's pure happiness
as I'm not a masochist: luckily it's true there are some nice moments but most of time, for me it's not.
So?
I can't say that I never really thought about it until ~9 months ago, but the past last months were so difficult that it became an evidence to me: how on earth the mankind survived through the ages?
Having a baby is time consuming. And tiring. Highly.
I pick him up at the nanny around 5.10pm. Having a job, I let you imagine how lucky I am to be able to get him so early. From 5.10pm to 7.30pm most of time I'm alone with the little boy as his mother is not as lucky as me and can't leave the office early but also, she must take public transportation to reach home.
So alone with the little boy, it's mostly 2h30 of rush: keeping an eye on him, playing with him, washing baby bottles, feeding, giving bath, changing diapers, ... If he's tired, I have to manage his bedtime, which is not an easy task, as usually when he's tired he is also highly irritated. And in this case bedtime is a long struggle.
When Mrs. arrives at home, if the little boy is not at bed yet, I can breath a little bit as she takes the relay and then, I can take time to cook the diner...
Depending on how tired I am and how it was easy or not to put him in bed, I'm going to sleep between 8.00pm and 9.30pm, spending the short time I'm up to read a few; doing some computer stuff (especially coding) is almost not possible, my brain is refusing.
Then starts the night. Or the nights? He still usually wake up between 1.30am and 3.30am; sometimes a short wakeup: I change the diaper, take him to his mom for a nibble, and 30 minutes later everyone is sleeping again. But also sometimes, it's 2 to 3 hours of break because, just because he decided there's no need to sleep more.
Then the morning come, between 5.00am and 6.00am... Most of times once I'm up again to get him from bed, I can't really sleep anymore. And start my job day at 8.00am until 5.00pm. His mom manage him from 7.00am to 9.00am, with some help from me between 7.00am and 8.00am.
The week-end of course as we're not working, it's full time to manage the little boy. He don't sleep to much the night but he's not a man of nap too: usually he does 1h, 1h30 maximum of nap in the day... So the week-end it looks like the 5.00pm-7.30pm range time I usually manage the weekdays but here it's for 2 full days. The difference is as we are two, we can relay each other.
And of course, now he moves: 4 legs mode but he's fast to move and also he start to stand up everywhere he can find a support... My ability to be focused more than a minute on something is hardly beaten.
So with the experience I have to manage my little one I'm really wondering how on earth the mankind survived through the ages...
From the dawn of humanity in the wild land with all its danger and the little one crying like Hi predators we're here!!
to now by crossing the different ages, with poor hygienic conditions, diseases, starvation, poverty, rude weather, wars and human madness...
And even though I complain and find it difficult on a daily basis, I know I'm really lucky compared to the parents who have to live in truly appalling conditions.
I can't imagine how single people does.
I can't imagine how people with an exhausting job does.
I can't imagine how people from third world does.
I can't imagine how people in a war zone does.
I can't imagine how humanity did over the last few thousand years.