BY Lucian Teo, Andy Lee, Nick Pan and Winston Tay (from left to right) are part of Daddy Matters, a collection of online blog portals devoted to modern day parenting from a father’s perspective in Singapore. They are also keen runners and form one of the teams in this year’s Mizuno Ekiden.
Q. How did the idea to form teams for the Mizuno Ekiden come about?
Nick: A few of us were invited separately, so we decided to band together a have 12 people from the Daddy Matters group form into teams. The four of us are just one of the three teams participating.
Q. Are all of you regulars in exercising or running?
Nick: A few of us are. Andy recently did a full marathon recently. Personally I exercise at least twice a week and last year I ran 5km daily for 30 days as a personal challenge. I am planning to repeat that this year in September. If anyone is interested, I'll be documenting that on my running Instagram account.
Winston: I'm more of a cyclist than a runner. I've had a number of start-stop experiences in running over the years, but right now, I'm in this because it's become a dad thing to do for us.
Lucian: I play basketball at least once a week, and where possible take long walks to work by dropping off a few train stations or bus stops early. This also satiates my passion for photography, which you can see here: https://www.instagram.com/lucianteo/.
Q. How do you guys find time to exercise while balancing being involved fathers?
Nick: I run regularly, and feel that exercising is part of being a responsible parent. I really don't want to drop dead suddenly, so running helps me make sure my heart is in good condition. I run either early on weekends before everyone is up, or later at night on weekdays.
Andy: My kids love sports, and when we do sports together, it is another opportunity for family bonding. I started running only a two years ago, but am going for my second Standard Chartered Marathon at the end of this year.
Winston: Mostly, I personally sneak out when the kids are asleep. These are rare moments though, seeing as I usually end up sleeping earlier than they do. It's how I get them to sleep regular hours at night: I sleep first, hence boring them into falling asleep due to inactivity!
Q. Tell us about the history of the Daddy Matters online community
Winston: Daddy Matters was established five years ago by a group of dad bloggers who wanted to come up with a support group for Singaporean dads. The three team leaders for our Mizuno Ekiden teams are part of the founding group. We welcome any man who has kids regardless of status, situation or even sexual orientation.
We discuss family issues, like how our daily routine as family men are like, child-raising experiences and home management tips and tricks. Those that blog and those that follow our blogs also ask us questions often, and it’s a really friendly atmosphere regardless of whether we’ve known each other for years or if we’ve only met for the very first time.
Find out more about the Daddy Matters community online through their social media portal here.
Comment (0)