Being a single dad isn't exactly easy, y'know...
My daughter is 20 months old, and where I think I'm doing a good job raising her, I can't help but ask myself daily; "Is she developing well? Is she on par with (or better than) other kids her age? What can I do to ensure that she continues to develop quickly and correctly?"
These questions, whereas I'm sure are asked by about every parent on the planet, are especially significant to me. I didn't get a lot of the things or attention that other children got when they were young. I had a particularly rough childhood; and although it didn't affect me to the effect of being a neurotic psycopath or anything like that, I did vow long ago to be sure my child(ren) never had to go through the things I did. Each day, I spend as much time as possible playing with her, reading to her, and trying to teach her anything she is able to learn. I try to get her to use one new word (sometimes two) each day, but it doesn't always happen like that. This weekend, she learned "chicken." She has a large vocabulary already, I can understand most anything she says. She's walking and running and climbing, and knows how to use the TV remote; something I didn't teach her.
Anywho, I try not to spend time on the PC over the weekend. My work revolves around the damned things, so I try to keep away on my time off. This morning, I was checking some of my favorite forums, and I come across this post about a friend's 22 month old. Apparently his child knows how to turn on a computer, activate DVD-playing software and watch a movie. His child is a little older than mine, and I know children develop at different rates, but I'm now wondering why my daughter isn't at that stage. She can turn things on and off (repeatedly; she's fried some of my electronics that way), but she doesn't seem to be interested in doing anything more with them.
Should she be able to use technology more by this point? I don't know. But she is one of the most social children her age. Maybe that's her forté. I've heard that children develop faster/better when both parents are around, but I don't see that happening. Her mom seems to be more interested in pursuing her own things than raising her daughter. Guess I'll keep playing both roles; but I still wonder if I'm doing a well enough job.