Being a Dad Made Me a Better Technical Writer

My son is 7 now. He amazes me every day. Or, some days at least. Alot of the time he can't figure out how to put his undies on straight. Then I wonder about him.

There are a lot of days where he does or says something so insightful though, I am amazed. He once taught me how to better hold a one-legged yoga pose by staring at a fixed point in the distance to keep my balance. Again, he's 7. He's definitely smarter than I was at his age, and may actually be smarter than I am now.

That being said, there are still some things I'm objectively better at than him. Not because I'm smarter, mostly just because I've been around longer. One of those things? VENDING MACHINES. Yes, those.

I took him to a bowling alley recently. He wanted a lemonade, so I gave him a few dollars to grab one from the vending machine. This should be simple enough, I thought. In the words of Charlie Murphy, WRONG!

I notice he's taking a little longer than expected, so I walk over to see what's going on. He's got the money upside down, he's feeding it in backwards, desperately trying to stuff it through the coin slot, wildly slapping buttons. Guy has no idea what he's doing.

As a father, I worry that I don't have alot of valuable life skills to pass along to my son. Sure, I can show him how to make a pretty sweet glider paper airplane, but that may not necessarily get him far in life. If we're ever in some type of survival situation, I can maybe help him tie his shoelaces? Maybe.

Pictured - my survival skills

I was once in danger of being sucked out to sea on a surf lesson, and instead of paddling for my life, I waited helplessly for the instructor to come rescue me. His look of disappointment as he leashed our boards together to paddle us both in is something that will haunt me for the rest of time. He looked back a few times to ask if I wanted to help paddle. Nah, I'm good, I'll continue to wallow here in my shame, thanks! Keep up the great work.

While I'm not always great at doing things, I am pretty good at explaining them. A big part of technical writing is being able to "translate" complex info for your audience. It just so happens that skill is also very useful as a father. Kids are often doing things for the first time, so it helps if you can break down tasks into their simplest steps. To him, this vending machine was just a giant glass puzzle box with a lemonade trapped inside.

So I started with the basics. Let's figure out what you want, and how much it costs. I showed him how to figure out the grid "coordinates" - ok it's in column A, and row 3. So A3, got it? How much does it cost? $3? Ok, got it.

We counted out three $1 bills together, then I showed him how to match the diagram when inserting them. If this seems like a torturous way for my son to get his lemonade and back to bowling, I assure you the whole process took less than 5 minutes.

The point is, this is every day as a parent. Kids are always learning, and to communicate with them effectively, it helps to see things from their perspective. Understanding how my young son sees things, and where he might get confused, helps me explain the world around him. Being able to put yourself in a user's shoes is an invaluable skill for a technical writer. And I'm doing it every day as a dad.