The Best Job in the World…Being a Dad!
By: Steven Elmore
Tags: Dads, Fatherhood, Parenting

With the pandemic adversely affecting my small business over the last 9 months, and the likelihood of it continuing until summer/fall of 2021, I have been thinking about what I can do if I need to close down permanently. Part of that thinking has been what I will do for a job. Then I shifted thinking into how difficult that will be due to the fact that I already have two full time jobs: small business owner and primary care giver to my son. Nonetheless, I ran a Google search on the best jobs in the world and got some interesting results.

According to US News and World Report, the 13 best jobs for 2019 are as follows:

Software Developer Statistician Physician Assistant Dentist Orthodontist Nurse Anesthetist Nurse Practitioner Pediatrician Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon OBGYN Physician Prosthodontist Occupational Therapist

The criteria for these rankings were primarily salary, job security, and stress level. Looking at this list I found no real surprises. It just reaffirms what parents always tell their kids…study hard so you can be a doctor! Well, at this stage in life I don’t think going to med school is an option, so I decided to keep looking.

According to indeed.com, the 12 most fun jobs in the world are as follows:

Video Game Designer Fashion Consultant Radio Announcer Event Planner Race Car Driving Instructor Pet Groomer Race Car Mechanic Sommelier Novelist Brewmaster Food Critic Voice Over Artist

This list seemed to be a bunch of jobs that people with a lifelong passion in a certain area can pursue. I like driving fast, playing with dogs, eating, drinking beer, and making funny voices but I doubt any of them would be a viable career path. So, the search continued.

According to goodnet.org, the 8 best jobs in the world are:

Disney Imagineer Professional Cuddler Private Island Caretaker Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru Water Slide Tester Professional Netflix Watcher Luxury Bed Tester Professional Traveler

With the exception of Disney Imagineer, none of the other jobs pay enough or provide a secure lifestyle for someone with a family to provide for. Unfortunately, I have a prior history with Disney that may disqualify me from employment. When I was 7 years old, I went to Disney World with my family and punched Pluto in the nose. True story.

Ok, back to the drawing board. I started thinking about my career as a karate instructor and studio owner. When I was first starting out in the business end of things, I would routinely travel to martial arts business conferences. Eventually I would end up being a speaker at some of these. Anyway, at some point during the 2–3-day conference someone would always say that being martial arts instructor is the best job in the world. Their reasoning was that we have a positive impact on people’s lives by making them healthier, teaching them confidence, and providing them with potentially lifesaving self-defense skills. When stated like that, it sounds pretty darn good. The fact is, there are many jobs out there that provide the same things. I feel being a karate instructor is a very honorable, noble, and community benefitting occupation, but it is not unique. Sorry business conference speakers.

Hopefully you are still following my train of thought and I haven’t lost you yet. It was after this last thought that I realized what the best job in the world is bar none…being a dad. Being a karate instructor, I am fortunate to have positively impacted many, many young lives. Seeing them a few hours a week over the course of a few years only allows for a very small impact though. Being a dad, however, you have a 100% impact for a lifetime. Ok, job posting is not very appealing: the pay sucks (you will actually lose money), there are no health benefits, no 401K, the hours are awful (12–14 hours a day, 10–12 hours on call, 7 days a week), you are exposed to noxious odors and substances (no explanation needed), and you don’t sleep very much. There would need to be a tremendous upside to this job to make up for these. The good news is the upside blows the downside away. You have a tiny human that is 50% of you. Because of that, there is this cosmic energic connection you will always have. You have the opportunity to impart wisdom, lessons learned, and help mold them into a better person than you. We can’t overlook the love, affection, adoration, and downright cuteness either. In the corporate world, how many times have you looked at your boss smile or giggle and have your heart melt? Hopefully never because that would be creepy. This happens several times a day being a dad.

You may be wondering why I said being a dad is the best job and not just being a parent. The fact is that being a mom is also the best job in the world when you take out the pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. After seeing what my wife went through, that would be a much harder job to sell. If being a mom or dad was a paid position, moms would earn 10 times more, easily.

Perhaps someday society will pay us for being dads but until then, hugs, kisses, and I love you daddy’s will be more than enough compensation.