Sammy Baker has a blended family — the Lawrenceville resident shares his adult son and his adult daughter with his wife of 14 years, Susan, who has two adult daughters. The couple has three grandchildren, ages 6, 4 and 2.
“My daughter was born — I was 32 — the next morning it hit me in the shower the responsibility of becoming a father,” he says.
His son was born two years later.
“It does teach you to slow down and develop patience,” Baker says of fatherhood. “I tried to do it all for them — but guiding was a better approach — they can repeat the event until they get it right.”
Baker, the owner of a Buford-based business, encourages fathers to put their phones down, to not look at their watches and to leave work at work or finish tasks after children have gone to bed for the night.
“As much as possible, make their interests your interests,” he says, “or find someone you both like to do.”
Baker shares the following advice for new and soon-to-fathers:
“Let them fail sometimes — it is hard to do. Hide-and-seek is a great game to teach winning and losing,” he says. “I should have done this much better. It takes twice as long to get this done at a child’s pace, but they need it. As a grandfather, I’m much better at this.
“Failure is a great teacher — do it again,” Baker continues. “Running a business is very similar, (and you) have to be patient in the teaching process. Every child or employee has different learning styles — try to figure it out, then succeeding will be more enjoyable for both.”
