Creatures and parenthood

Parenthood. Fatherhood. Taking care of a baby.

I have been a father for a little over a month now. Me and my wife have been blessed with a beautiful little baby girl. 

Now, throughout my life I had expected that creatures would have been preparing me for parenthood in a way. Likely this is still true, but so far, I have experienced little that supports this. A Norn is actually capable of taking some sort of care of itself right after birth. A baby Norn can crawl, eat solid food, talk and interact with its environment.

My daughter can lift her head. Sometimes. For a short amount of time.

The truth is that it takes a lot more time for a Human brain to develop than it does for a Norn. Instincts to suckle, to cry out, and sleep are really the only options for at least the first month. Arguably limited speech is an innate ability all babies carry and share with Norns, but even these five simple "words" of the Dunstan baby language really are just sounds made instinctively.

What then did creatures teach me that I found useful? Patience is one thing. Though most games teach patience, creatures applies this on a "living" being. If a Norn does not eat upon your command, it is because it is distracted by greater needs, not because it desires to frustrate you. The same can be said about a Baby, where patience is used to find that greater need.

The other thing I have learned is to experiment. Again, this greater need either a Norn or a Baby can have needs to be found. Does she not suckle because she needs to burp? To pass wind? Perhaps she has pain of sorts, or needs to be soothed for no real reason. The only thing you can do is to try different things. Perhaps something again all games tend to teach, but creatures has the more relevant context.

There is a lot to be learned for me about my little sweet baby girl, and I fear creatures could never have prepared my for every little thing in any case. Yet I am grateful for the handholds it did give me! It is a steady process, that seems very, very fast at times. It is very rewarding, and perhaps I should write thoughts like these down because moments like these disapear fast enough already!