The Joys and Experiences of Parenthood: A Parent's Perspective

As I stand on the street corner with my kids by my side, their tiny hands wrapped around my index finger, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of pride and excitement. This moment, where they are physically present in the world, is one that I had been eagerly anticipating for months. The experience of being a parent is nothing short of exhilarating, and moments like these make it all worthwhile.

The adult version of this experience is taking your child out to dinner in a bustling city. I've had the pleasure of doing so with both of my kids on multiple occasions, and each time, it's a thrill that never gets old. Seeing them navigate the world on their own, making their own decisions, and taking responsibility for themselves is an incredible thing to witness. It's a feeling that's hard to put into words, but it's one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had as a parent.

One of the things I looked forward to when my kids were in utero was the moment where they would be able to hold onto my hand and walk alongside me on the street corner. This was something that I thought about often, imagining what it would be like to have my child's small hand wrapped around my finger, feeling their tiny grip as we walked together. And when that moment finally arrived, it exceeded all of my expectations.

As a parent, there are so many moments like this where you get to experience the world through your child's eyes. It's a truly unique perspective, and one that I feel incredibly fortunate to have. Whether it's watching them learn new skills or simply seeing them enjoy the simple things in life, every moment is filled with joy and wonder.

But as exciting as these moments are, there's also a side of parenthood that can be downright terrifying. There are times when you're not so sure if you've made the right decisions or if you're truly doing what's best for your child. These doubts can creep in, especially during those early days and nights when sleep deprivation is at its peak.

And yet, despite these fears, there's a sense of purpose that comes with being a parent. You know that you're making a difference in the world, no matter how small it may seem. You're shaping the next generation of leaders, innovators, and thinkers, and that thought alone can be both humbling and empowering.

As I look back on my own experiences as a parent, I'm reminded of just how much has changed since those early days when everything felt so new and overwhelming. My kids are growing up at an alarming rate, and before I know it, they'll be leaving the nest and starting their own journeys. It's a bittersweet thought, but one that I know is inevitable.

In the meantime, I'll continue to cherish these moments of joy and connection with my children. Whether it's watching them build intricate LEGO structures or simply seeing them enjoy a simple pleasure like a favorite snack, every moment is precious. As a parent, you're constantly reminded that time is fleeting, but also incredibly valuable. It's a paradox that can be both heartening and heartbreaking.

The Tested Community: Behind the Scenes

But I'm not just talking about my own experiences as a parent; I'm also speaking from the heart of our community at Tested. Our members are some of the most passionate and knowledgeable people out there, with a shared love for all things technology, innovation, and design.

And now that we're taking steps to formalize this community even further, I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you who's been a part of it. As a team, we're committed to creating content that's both informative and entertaining, covering everything from science experiments to product reviews. We believe that by working together, we can achieve great things – whether that's making the world a better place or simply sharing our passion with others.

The Mythbusters Connection

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge one of my favorite past experiences: being a part of the Mythbusters team on TV. There was something about the combination of science, skepticism, and humor that just clicked with me. It's an experience that taught me so much about critical thinking and problem-solving – skills that have served me well as both a parent and a journalist.

And speaking of questions, I'd love to hear from you. Do you have any burning questions on your mind? Maybe something that's been puzzling you for weeks or months? We're all ears here at Tested, and we'll do our best to provide answers in our live streams and future content.

In the meantime, let's talk about some of the more...interesting experiences I've had with science and technology. Like the time I flew a jetpack around LAX – yes, you read that right! It was an experience unlike any other, one that pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me question everything I thought I knew about flight.

But there's another story brewing on the horizon, one that involves some cutting-edge tech and a few of our favorite gadgets. Stay tuned for more updates – we can't wait to share what's coming next!

And so it goes. The world of parenthood is full of ups and downs, twists and turns. But through it all, there's something to be cherished: the connection with your child, the shared laughter and tears, and the memories that will last a lifetime.

As I wrap up this post, I want to say thank you – to my kids, to our community at Tested, and to everyone who's ever supported me on this wild journey. Here's to many more adventures together!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enuh mikey's lab he says on the show you were challenged to build some incredible things  can you take us through your process from idea to planning to building  when faced with large multi-disciplined projects  um that is a very involved question but i'm going to give it a shot um i will use as an  example our road warrior episode where laura kampf simoniac and i engaged in a duel of engineering  and driving destruction prowess uh this was a stunning episode there is an incredible uh  semi-con i guess that occurs in the california desert every year uh called wasteland weekend and  the wonderful denizens of the wasteland uh dress up uh in universe from the mad max films  and enjoy hanging out and driving crazy vehicles in the desert every year and they worked with us  on that episode so how that episode began as a very very different episode um in the beginning  i was interested in building a cycle cart cycle carts c-y-c-l-e-k-a-r-t is a hobby where in a car  chassis has been agreed upon that costs i think about a grand so it's like a if i remember  correctly it's like a five horsepower motor a standard steering arrangement standard size wheels  axles drivetrain etc and everyone's agreed upon those parameters and then cycle cart enthusiasts  build their own cars on top of those chassis and they race them and it's surpassingly dangerous  they they make it clear on the cycle cart fan sites that you're gonna roll over you better be  ready gotta wear a helmet um you know this is a this is a hobby that's going to lead to some  band-aids so that was their initial idea i wanted to build a cycle cart with somebody i wanted to  have a cycle cart challenge with somebody that that an engineer that i admired uh and we talked  to again we talked to tom sachs we talked to danny hillis and other folks um and then discovery  the network didn't love they had done cycle cards on something else or cycle cards had shown up on  another discovery show and hadn't done that well this is the kind of arguments you end up having  with the network this is the kind of thing like wow we did that once and no one liked  it you know like these things aren't the same i'm going to do something different yeah don't do it  um and you pick your battles you pick your battles sometimes you you sometimes you draw lines in the  sand in order to pick different battles and in this case we let that battle go and we were  talking about it in the room jacks and y and stevo uh just sorry not stevo john tessier uh my long  time producer on on mythbusters steve christensen was very close mates with john tessier in fact  when i was considering john as a showrunner and i hadn't worked with him before it was stevo  they called me up and said he's like a brother and i was like well that's good enough for me  so it wasn't stevo john tessier um we were in the room trying to figure out an engineering  challenge that involved vehicles that would be really fun and i think it was my son  thing too that actually busted out with the idea of a road warrior kind of challenge  and we were off to the races uh network loved that idea right away uh laura and simone were both  into it right out of the gate uh and then that was a really easy one to get across the line  we sent discovery footage of both simone and laura they were familiar with simone  and i think some of them were familiar with laura they loved them both and approved them both  so now we had those guys on board it was time to discuss the parameters of the challenge  uh how do we make a target system that we can build that's consistent and soit's funny with a contest like that the narrative begins and ends with the rules but to in point  in fact the rules are actually kind of almost the last thing you come up with in the episode  because you've got to sculpt the rules in order to achieve a narrative i mean what you should  know about a show like junkyard wars is that as those two teams were building the producers are  constantly changing the rules it's like high school science fair disease they're constantly  altering the rules to achieve some parity between the two teams because very frequently in a contest  like that you can have one team that just eats the other team's lunch and that's not great television  to just watch someone get trounced every time you want there to be more attention and as a producer  look i realize that some of this may sound to you very cynical about reality television but  you know it's totally true and we would have dealt with it on the food fight episode with  tori as well talking about how to sculpt the rules to achieve the most amount of fighting  and the most amount of excitement while still finishing with an episode that we can  film in a reasonable period of time and cut into something useful so laura and simone and i and  the production team had several long meetings talking about ways to execute this contest  that we all felt comfortable with and even so then once we have a set of parameters  this i think was the second big build we did for savage build so we took over this large warehouse  down in hunter's point uh and we started we got the cars there's a whole sequence of picking out  the cars and then we got robbed right that was right around the time we got all our tools stolen  it happens um so that changed some of the rules because we lost some key pieces of equipment  so there were small alterations made in the final execution plan because of that robbery  and because of how much time it took from production uh at that moment i so i  i fully recognize i'm not giving a super detailed answer to your question  but that's also because this process changes with every single with every single story brings  with it its own its own narrative parameters its own decision processes um and it's a it's  a moving target and that's maybe the best way to describe it it's you know you think that narrative  television like dramatic television someone writes a script someone else storyboards that script and  someone else shoots the storyboards to make the script that's totally not like that i mean yeah  in theory it's like that but really it's more like someone writes a script someone changes  the scripts from the storyboards it alters the network everyone has notes this changes  that changes then you start to shoot that's not possible this location's gone this actor is gone  we got to change i mean all of these parameters are changing constantly and you've got to be  able to adjust to them so if there's anything that typified the kind of production reality television  production that i'm used to it's that everything changes all the time and you've got to prioritize  what's possible at every given moment and that actually to me is the most fun part like  if you ask me what my key memory of mythbusters is and i know you didn't but like my key memory  of mythbusters is standing on a location holding a cup of starbucks coffee that came in one of  those cardboard boxes standing with stevo at scott sorensen hey kept my a cameraman and like  looking at a landscape and going uh what if we came from over there and then we did this thing  oh yeah but then we gotta do this thing over here yeah uh all right i'm gonna pull the truck around  and get that and scott you want to get that's like that that process of figuring it out on the fly  from what we're looking at in front of us there's nothing more fun um but do we have we have  okay one more question um do we have any that have arrived via via text from the oh here we go  yes i want to answer some of the questions that came up during this actual live stream and we have  a couple i'm gonna answer two more questions here um rob johnston wants to know how awesome was it  for you to have your son working on savage builds with you did anyone refer to him as thing number  uh i don't think anyone on the crew referred to my son uh by my appellation um no it was fabulous  to have him on the set uh it was really lovely he is an experienced rock climber so he was my safety  when i was learning to fly in the iron man suit rig oh my god that was amazing and actually sowe're on set i'm learning how to fly and i'm just really getting it when my engine cuts out  and then i fall like 12 feet but i didn't fall and hit the deck then my son caught the caught  me as was our practice right that was what he was there to do he caught me before i hit the deck  and then he lowered me down and i said thanks handsome that's kind of how i speak to my kids  and my son was working with another production assistant and the other production assistant  looked at my son and said how come the boss just called you handsome  which is a very reasonable question he said actually it's my dad um yeah an absolute delight  absolutely to work with your adult kids is a a genuine treat um there is um  before you have pair before you are a parent before you have a kid you fantasize about all  sorts of aspects of what parenthood is going to be like with equal amounts of terror and excitement  but for me one of the things i was most looking forward to when my kids were in utero  was that moment of like standing on a street corner with them where they're like at my side  and their like little hand is wrapped around my index finger just just that little moment of  of being in the being in the world with your kid that their little hand holding my finger  that was something i thought about like i can't wait for that and it happens pretty quickly you  know and when it happened when i was standing on the corner with my kids and their little  hands holding onto my hands it was like every bit as awesome as i was hoping it would be  the adult version of that is going to another city and taking your kid out to dinner taking  your adult kid out to dinner in the city that they live in i've had the opportunity to do  it with both of my kids a bunch of times and there's an aspect to it that feels exactly as  proud parent-y and exciting to like see this being your helping to make a stand in the  world move their own way through it it's really exciting uh okay last question here we go umlet's see uhmaker padawan ah makerpod one there you go makerpod one wkp wants to know uh they  said i love savage builds and we got to see you build a stand for your uh iron man mark  ii suit but you never mentioned did you get to keep the rocket glovesdid i get to keep the gravity ring from richard browning no i i did not um  i still have an open invitation from uh richard and his team to continue to fly  in the gravity rig and when this is all over i am definitely going to take another opportunity  to to play with that rig because frankly that moment of bringing the two rocket engines  on your arms down to the ground and feeling that lift you off the ground seriously  when you actually get it right it feels like every dream you've ever had about flying seriously andnobody's asked for this but i want to talk about that guy who's flying around lax in a rocket pack  if you haven't seen this check it out um airplanes in the uh in the landing pattern  at lax have several times in the past few months been reporting seeing what looks like a  human operating a jet pack at like three four thousand feet of elevation around the lax airspace  i don't think that's a person i don't think that's anybody in a jet pack  i think it's a drone that someone made look like a guy  in a jet pack just to mess with airplanes mark my words i think it's somebody pranking everybody  yeah there you go that's the kind of question i used to answer on mythbusters all the time  ah well thank you guys so much for joining me for this uh live stream and the quickie  little build for the box for my hammer cage um we're this is one of the things we're going to  be doing in 2021 so i will see you in a couple of weeks for another live stream and until then  stay safe wear your masks and i'll see you guys next time thank you guys so much for watching  that entire video if you would like to support tested even further well i'm here to tell you  that you could become a member if you follow the links below you'll see there are several tiers  of membership depending on how much you'd like to pay and how much access you would like to me  and the tested team and membership comes as always with some excellent benefits including uh  questions that i'll answer in live streams the questions have been so amazing and exclusive  videos and exclusive content follow the links below and we will see you next time\n"