[My First Note] A Career Change with a Pay Cut and 10 Months of Paternity Leave: A Father's Record of Choosing a 'Child-Centered Life'

Nice to meet you. I go by the name 'Papa Hero'.

I am a father of two, raising a 4-year-old son who is currently obsessed with Ultraman and a spirited 2-year-old daughter.

In this note, I would like to document my own 'conflicts between career and life' and the 'reality of parenting,' filled with both laughter and reflection, as a daily record.

As my first post, please let me talk a little about the choices I have made as a father and how I plan to live my life from here on out.

■ Choices as a Father and Career Conflicts

I previously worked at the same company for about 10 years. However, as I got married and had children, I realized day by day that my life's priorities had shifted dramatically.

That said, at first, I hadn't even considered changing jobs, but I realized that it might be faster for me to change jobs than to focus on changing the organization.

'Wait, seriously? Changing jobs? Can I actually do that?'

While struggling with the anxiety of throwing away a 10-year career and the choice to prioritize time with my family, I finally decided to take the plunge and change jobs for a lower salary, thinking, 'Even if my pay goes down, I want to create more time to spend with my family and children.'

Furthermore, at my new job, I took a 10-month paternity leave following the birth of my second child. Before taking it, I was full of anxiety about handing over my work and the impact on our income, but once it started, the reality was more chaotic than I had imagined.

Even though my wife and I had created a perfect division-of-labor list, there were 'nameless chores' that kept popping up one after another, and there were times I felt like rolling my eyes at the days that never went according to plan.

Even so, through this period of facing my children head-on, my 'sense of ownership' changed dramatically, and I keenly felt the importance of repeated dialogue between husband and wife. (Please let me write in detail about the chaotic struggle during my paternity leave in future articles!)

■ The Reality of Parenting, Full of Unexpected Turns

Parenting is more about being taught by your children and being taken aback than it is about teaching them as a parent.

There was an incident where I felt deeply ashamed of my own lack of patience after a child said something to me when I had projected a hostile aura because they weren't getting ready on a busy morning.

Also, while raising children as a dual-income couple, there is the serious reality of being caught between a child's sudden illness and work, leaving me clutching my head and wondering, "Should I take time off or push through?"

Ignoring such parental struggles, children grow stronger every day, and sometimes they show surprising behavior, like anticipating our actions and supporting us in advance. I will be sharing such daily, chuckle-worthy episodes and stories of failure little by little from now on.

■ Future way of life and reasons for working

My father, who passed away last year, had a dream he couldn't fulfill. I realized this while I was sorting through his belongings.

I want to fulfill my father's dream, which he left behind halfway, even if it's in a different form. I want to show him the scenery he couldn't see. I want to take on the challenge. I swore that strongly in my heart.

And in the future, when my children talk about their dreams of wanting to take on a challenge, I want to show them the back of a cool adult who has taken on challenges. That is my greatest motivation for working right now.

That is precisely why I wake up at 5:00 every morning to continue studying new technologies and tools so that I am not left behind in an era that is evolving at a tremendous speed.

Changing jobs for a lower salary and taking 10 months of paternity leave are by no means the goal.

It is an incomplete, sometimes frustrating, and reflection-filled daily life, but I want to write down here a practical log of how to live for the sake of my family's smiles and how to move forward calmly.

I would be happy if I could share even a little bit of empathy with those who are similarly struggling with child-rearing and ways of working. Thank you for your support!