Meet Ivan Lanuza, 34, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a local supermarket chain with over 200 stores in the country. But that’s just a sideline. His other jobs? Husband, dad and head of his homeschooling family. To top it off, Ivan is also an avid reader, writer (he has a great blog!) and music lover.
What stands out about him is how well he knows his wife and kids, and how he uses this knowledge to make them happy. Let’s get to know him more!
Tell us about your wife:
When Mabelle and I met in college, I immediately had a big crush on her. We became very good friends and, after two years, girlfriend/boyfriend. We were together 7 years before getting married – and we’ve been married for 10 years now.
Belle balances me out, keeps me sane, is my best friend, my soul mate, my most trusted adviser, my best critique, my #1 ego-booster, and my wife. She’s a jack of all trades – and can get anything done. The good-look genes and the smart genes that our kids inherited come from her; I just contributed the humor genes.
When you see that your wife is exhausted from a long day, what do you do to cheer her up?
I give her personal, alone time to recharge. I can toss in a massage and a TV series night – but only after I get the kids to sleep. Like me, she is an introvert – which means she needs alone time to recharge after a long, exhausting day.
Tell us about your kids!
It’s amazing how kids can give you so much enjoyment and so many challenges. One minute you want to hug them, the next minute you want to [insert non-parental acts here]. But at the end of the day, hanging out with them is always a blessing. I have three kids, all less than 10 years old:
- Adam is so techie – he already knows how to code basic websites, and he reads books in one sitting. If you talk to him, you’ll know he’s amazingly responsible and mature for his age.
- Frances is the adventurous and creative one – she always wants to try new things and she can make crafts that embarrassingly, I can’t even do myself.
- Liam is still young, so he is still developing his own personality. But he likes shooting basketballs and just wants to be part of whatever family activity we are doing.
How far have you gone to make your kids laugh?
I’m already silly and goofy by default and I know what triggers each kid to laugh harder than usual. Adam likes word-play jokes; Frances likes embarrassing jokes; Liam likes slapstick jokes.
Ivan’s favorite daddy duty sounds fun! Read about it on the next page.
What’s your favorite:
Daddy duty activity:
Reading to my kids or storytelling. Typically the stories don’t make sense because I just make them up on the fly. The stories are often funny, embarrassing or adventurous. We even have series of stories – where for one week, the story each night is connected. Those are the best ones because we even make theme songs for them.
Dad advice:
When it comes to kids, Quantity Time cannot be substituted with Quality Time. I read somewhere that your kids being kids is a very small window – so parents need to spend as much time as possible with them during those years because once that window closes, it’s closed forever and your kids will move on. Quantity Time > Quality Time.
Tell us about your:
Most heartwarming Dad moment:
When I see my kids taking care of one another, I feel like the love and time that we give them allows them to love each other as well. Seeing them having fun together and looking out for one another is very heartwarming to me.
Proudest moment as a Dad:
Whenever they do something nice for their mother, or at least plan to do something nice for her, I feel like World’s Most Awesome Dad. I feel like I’m raising kids who think of others.
How has fatherhood changed you?
I am more responsible, more capable to multi-task, more paranoid, more hungry to do well so I can provide for my family and be a good role model to my kids.
Did you turn out to be the parent you wanted to or thought you would be?
I actually never thought about it – it was just automatic for me to be a father, and to do my best to be a good one. Having a great parent role model like my own father made it easy to be a parent too because I just had to reapply what I experienced from him. I hope I’m a good father – but that’s up to my kids to decide!
READ: Dads we love: Edric Mendoza on joy, faith, and family
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