YOU HOPE TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN? JON: To be well-rounded; self- sufficient; to follow through with whatever their passion is; to not accept “no”; and to find their happiness. If they want something, go get it. If they figure out what makes them happy, pursue it. Most importantly, I hope that they have a natural desire to care for others. That is something that was ingrained in me from high school and that I have carried onto my adult life, whether it’s through my work as a mentor at Son of Saint or through raising money with friends at Hogs for the Cause. As long as my children are well-rounded and live a life that makes them happy, then I will be a satisfied and proud father. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A WORK/LIFE BALANCE? JON: We hang on my wife a lot, and she leans on me for things. We both work full-time, and she has a tough job as a Nurse Practitioner at Children’s. So there are times when she might need to unload things on me and take breaks and the same thing– I might need to work late, and she carries a lot of the parenting workload when I’m not there.. So, both of us are very understanding that we both have double lives of work/parents. I think we work great as a team and that we have done well figuring out how to make it work for both of us. To maintain the work/life balance, having the right partner is priceless. We are also very lucky to have family that lives close and helps us when we need it. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DATE NIGHT WITH YOUR WIFE? JON: I like going to see live music, obviously, and going out and doing stuff in New Orleans, such as enjoying some great food and drinks. We lived a much more exciting and crazy lifestyle before kids with no curfew on our date nights. Now that we have kids, our nights are way more tame than they used to be, with us probably home before midnight. There’s always something to do, especially during festival season. So, if we do have the opportunity to get a babysitter or get one of our grandparents to watch the kids, we’ll just jump right into whatever the weekend is offering. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER PARENTS? JON: Don’t be afraid to take your kids
out and experience things. You’ll be able to also experience your own life, but work your life around their schedules. For example, our youngest has nap time, so on weekends we know that there has to be a nap at a certain point in the day, and we schedule our life around that so that we can still do the things we want to do. Since we are about to tackle another Jazz Fest weekend, we will probably force her to nap early so that we can spend the day at the Fairgrounds without causing a meltdown that ruins our fun. Before kids, we had the freedom to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Now that we have kids, we can still do whatever we want, we just have to figure out how and when we can do it. Just because we have kids, it does not mean we have to stop living or that they cannot also join in on the fun. We have figured out how to organize our interests and lives around our kids’ schedules. Sometimes, parenting can be hard/tiring and you might pass up on doing something because it might seem too difficult to bring the kids along and enjoy yourselves. Although it might be more tiring or difficult to bring them along with you to an event on the weekend, it might be easier to just get a babysitter or not go at all. We find it is much more rewarding to have the experience with them and create memories as a family. As a parent, you start to figure out what is important. Is it important for things to be easy in life and avoid tiring situations? Or is it important to create lasting memories and experiences in life with your kids? We know what we want as parents. We want to continue to live our lives and experience everything life has to offer to us as parents. We choose to take on adventures and life has become even more exciting and fulfilling as it ever was, just from a different perspective now. QUICK Q’S Before I go out, I always make sure I have……. Phone, wallet, and keys. And if kids are coming– monster truck and baby doll. My guilty pleasure is….............. UberEats I’m always laughing at................ The kids My favorite snack is…............ Chick-Fil-A The first thing I do when I wake up is....……. Watch Bluey with my daughter
NOLAFAMILY.COM | JUNE 2024 15
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