FPY#07 ‘Everything changed after our son’s diagnosis’ with Working Dad Asato Phillip Tanaka

This is a very special episode, very close to my heart. Asato Phillip Tanaka is the dad I aspire to be.  Both Saya (my daughter) and Kanga (Asato's son) suffer from Cerebral Palsy, brain damage that had an impact on cognitive and motricity functions. I actually didn’t want to share this episode too early as I want to resonate with as many dads as possible. I did share in episode #1 that my daughter dying at birth and coming back was one of my key triggers for prioritising my kids in my work-life balance. Asato shares a similar feeling: after Kanga’s diagnosis, everything else (work, career, relationship..) went on the back burner and Kanga became priority #1. If for us it’s what it took to drastically work on our balance between work and fatherhood, that is not the message we want to share. What I am trying to do in this interview is to show other working dads that whatever happens in life, we can take it, juggle it  (work, kids, wife, therapy…) and we can still prioritise our kids. However, Asato is not a superman, he simply breaks long after I do! So with this interview, I am simply trying to inspire all dads that it is never too late to prioritise your kids. We talk about resilience, lack of sleep and more in this episode. Asato has started a Youtube channel on the art of making Japanese jewellery both in English and Japanese, check out the link below.   Asato's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRQXikf5MC9hTzbJ74Y5Fnw