I grew up in the desert, so naturally I love going there with my kids. This blog is about beautiful moments I shared with my eight in a half year firstborn son in a four-day trip.

In this journey we bond with nature and one another. We talked, shared silence, warmed ourselves up with a cup of tea, played table games and took photos. I taught him how to photograph when he was seven and his natural born skill is reflected in his early shots.

On this trip, I let myself be natural. He witnessed me sad, confused, happy and silent. I teach him to be himself by being myself near him. I got to know his sense of humour, his weak points and passion zones. I witnessed his prevailing technique to get closer to me (questions), and witnessed my patience challenged by moments of impatience. I enjoyed his love and care for me, and showered him with love and care (as a brother to twins, he really needs it).

I find these one-on-one trips healthy, natural and rewarding. The modern lifestyle has distanced most of us, as it has distanced modern fathers from the simple secret pillars of parenting. Thus in these journeys with him I train my biologically encoded parenting skills.

These moments also enable me to rewind the film of my life and tap into my inner child. Whenever I looked at him, I saw myself aged nine. I also saw my own dad with fresh eyes. I stepped into my father’s eyes and identified with his struggles as a young and confused father. I thought about our parenting models that greatly differ from one another and debated with myself how much they were shaped by our personalities and how much by the generational differences: 70’s vs. today.