In his day job, Tim is an attorney who’s a serious advocate for justice and defending personal rights in the court room; but when it comes to family time he enjoys the geeky side of life. Having gone through a life changing moment not once, but twice in recent years, we spent some time with him to find out more…
“He told me I need to have more fun in life!”
A Medical Scare
It was 2010 and Tim was regularly working 60+ hours a week. Something just didn’t seem right and at the urging of his wife, he went to get a physical where he received some troubling news from his doctor. Stress induced ulcers and acid reflux were destroying his stomach lining, damaging his throat and disintegrating his teeth. Additionally hypertension was putting him at serious risk for a heart attack, stroke, and a myriad of other dangerous health concerns.
Despite this diagnosis, the doctor’s solution was surprisingly simple. He told me ‘I needed to take life less seriously and make more time for fun,’ Tim said. The doctor prescribed some medication, suggested getting more exercise, and recommended making more of an effort to do fun things that would help him relax.
As Tim was at the pharmacy getting his prescription he noticed a comic book rack. It reminded him of how much he loved reading comic books during his childhood and on a whim he bought a few to take home. This soon became a great way to relax and relieve stress. Little did he know that he was making his first footsteps toward something even bigger…
The Day Everything Changed
A few months later, Tim had a renewed focus on healthier living and spending more time with his family. He was still working a lot of hours and with his wife also having a full-time job the kids were spending most days in ‘daycare.’ One day Tim decided to take a summer day off work to enjoy with his toddlers. He innocently gave his kids banana slices covered with peanut butter for lunch, and suddenly his daughter began screaming and ripping at her skin as it became covered with red blotches. As Tim says, ‘I knew something was very wrong, and after rushing her to hospital we discovered she has a particularly sensitive food allergy to peanuts.’
By the time they reached the hospital emergency room his daughter had gone into anaphylactic shock causing her eyes and throat to swell shut. After three tense days at the hospital everything turned out ok, but after that scare everything changed.
Tim made an amazing decision; he put his law practice on hold for several years to become a Stay At Home Dad ensuring care for his kids was his number one priority. He did this until they reached elementary school and then resumed his legal career again.
Get rid of the suit, and get into the Darth Vader costume!
Starting to feel detached as a Stay At Home Dad, Tim started to use Twitter to reach out to other parents with food allergies. Those conversations, plus Tim’s renewed interest in comic books, led to A Geek Daddy being born. A Geek Daddy explores the adventure of parenting from a fun loving dad’s perspective through a blog and a variety of social media channels. Tim discusses the difficulties his family experiences dealing with food allergies; provides product reviews on children’s items and things that dads like himself would find fun, interesting and useful.
Through time he has gotten to know many other parents all around the world, but he’s also seen the ugly side of the internet – with many trolls lacking a basic understanding of how severe allergies can be, especially as it’s ‘not something people often have a direct relationship to,’ he told us.
Here’s what Tim wants for the future
- Firstly, he wants to continue to use A Geek Daddy to try and humanize the understanding of food allergies. ‘People can be much much more considerate of the issue and open to understanding it once they associate a real face with the topic,’ says Tim.
- Secondly, his time as an attorney has given him first-hand experience on the importance of fatherly involvement in children’s lives. ‘I see so many cases where crimes are part of a vicious cycle in families. Lots of the cases where there is an obvious correlation to dads simply not being involved enough in a child’s life, and we need to start changing that,’ he stated.
Get into your Vader costumes and have some fun following the exploits of A Geek Daddy! Visit Tim’s blog at www.ageekdaddy.com, or follow him on Twitter or Instagram.
