Nothing in life is textbook for Kerri Forde.
He is writing his own parenting script as he goes along, instead.
And he is learning many lessons along the way from his five-year-old daughter Kerriann. The novel approach to parenting derives from his belief that life and relationships “are an open journal”.
“You just start to write and as you go, you learn and you document.”
It is characteristic of the 29-year-old father’s whole philosophical approach to life. “I am a very free spirit. Until you are actually in the jungle you don’t know how you are going to survive.” Tattoos cover both his arms and he sees his preference for this style as just an indication of the change in times and outlook, rather than a sign of radicalism.
Kerri became a father at age 24 and he related how “I met a girl, we had a good relationship and we decided to do some planning together in terms of good family living; we discussed it with her mother, who really wanted a grandchild, we talked it over on many levels and we just went forward with it”.
By the time he learnt they were going to have a daughter, he had already decided on the name Kerriann. “If it was a boy he would have been called Kerry” said the young father who began to build the father-daughter bond even before the baby’s birth.
“I spoke to my daughter from the womb. When she was first born I looked at her and I said ‘Kerriann’ and she stretched her hand out and held my finger. It was a real defining moment. I felt that she had always known me as a person.”
Ever since that day father and daughter have something he says or does.
Kerri is sometimes stumped by a wisdom that belies his daughter’s tender age.
It helps to remind him of his responsibility. “I ride motocross and when I am out there riding I know that I need to get back home to my daughter so I need to be more responsible out there.”
“You just can’t live your life with gay abandon because you know you have a person who is going to call you the next morning and say, ‘Daddy, are you okay’. So safety becomes an even greater responsibility for you and that applies not
only in riding.”
“It is also in everyday life; driving on the highway, you can’t go out there and drink and get drunk and crash the car. Even with regards to keeping a job, I always have to remember I have Kerriann so I have to make sure that I go to work and provide for her.”
Meanwhile life with this father-daughter duo is about creating memorable moments, and Kerri says “I want my child to be a good person from a moral perspective. With that basic, she would be able to make her own decisions in life.”
