Just show up for your kids. That’s it.
It’s been the guiding principle for Kyle Reynolds, our Lead Dad of the Week from Nashville, Tenn., who pivoted away from being a mortgage banker when his two kids were young. Those early years of being a Lead Dad who devoted all of his time to his family weren’t easy. His wife is a lawyer and his decision benefitted her career and their family but that still didn’t make it easy being the only man in the play groups.
“There weren’t a lot of dads doing this back then,” he said. “I’d show up and all these moms would stare at me.”
He pressed on for 12 years, as his daughter Scotlen and son Jonas grew up. Subbing in his kids’ school led to the school offering him a role. He was happy to accept, under the condition that he had summers off to be with his kids. They took dad trips each year, where for two weeks they would go somewhere new. His kids have visited over 30 states so far.
“I told them, the less you travel out of your home state, the more you think you know,” he said. “The more you travel, you realize the less you know.”
On a trip to Chicago, he took his kids to Gary, Indiana, one of the poorest cities in America, so they could see firsthand the economic divide in America.
His daughter is about to enter college and his son is going into high school. He loves working at the school. And he still takes their summer trips. But the key piece of advice he’d give any dad is to just be there, no matter where there is.
“They just want to be with you,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing – just being present.”
Welcome, Kyle, to The Company of Dads!
