(To read Part 1, click here.)

In recent years Michelle and I have watched joyfully as several couples we love dearly became parents. One couple honored us by asking us to be their darling little girl’s godparents. And six months ago, we became grandparents, when our firstborn took the same plunge we took almost 29 years ago (see photo at right). I did what every modern grandparent is, by law, obliged to do: I created a Flickr page.

At the same time, our neighborhood is witnessing a new wave of births, the next generation after the one that gave our block our kids and their cohort. And we’ve delighted in each new arrival, in the smiles on their (and their parents’) faces, in their procession through developmental stages.

But one thing that I notice with increasing frequency--and dismay--is how many of the new parents I encounter today seem not only to fret, in their devotion to their children, over their ability to be, in Bruno Bettelheim’s words, “a good enough parent,” but to doubt that they have what it takes. Well, I’m here to say: They do. You do. If I did--if I could grow from a nervous new dad into a comfortable if wizened parent, and from there into a relaxed grandpa--so can you.

Are there things to worry about, sheer cliff faces to scale, unanticipated challenges to surmount? You bet. Let’s name a few:

• How can I best protect my child’s health? What do I need to know about nutrition, exercise, play, social skills? What can I do about the environment to ensure that my kids will have clean air to breathe, ample fresh water to drink, good food to eat, wild places to explore, other species to cherish?
• How will I afford health insurance for my family? What kind of health care will we need? What can I do to make sure we have access to it, and won’t be ruined financially by a medical emergency?
• How can I best educate my child? What about the schools in my area?how do I choose the best one for us? What is my proper role in my kids’ education?
• How do I teach my children to be citizens of a thriving democracy? (Wait?how do I ensure they have a thriving democracy to be citizens of?)
• How do I guide my kids’ exposure to mass media so as to promote their literacy and fluency with it, rather than their mindless obeisance to it?
• What role will religion and spirituality have in my children’s upbringing and our life together?
• What if my kids don’t turn out the way I’d hoped?
• Will my spouse and I ever be able to have sex again?

These are just some of the countless questions that echo through parents’ minds all the livelong day. And I aim to explore them, and others, in future dispatches.

But for now, I want to leave you with the words of someone wiser than I, words that helped me catch my breath when relaxing into parenthood seemed the most elusive thing in the world: Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. Or, in somewhat more contemporary terms: Remember to breathe. Love that child, and let your love be a beacon for you.

You see, it’s not about--or, at least, not only about--having the right information or reading the right book. It’s about--or anyway, also about--who you are, how you come to the dance, whether you can open your heart and let your fears occupy themselves over in the corner while you proceed with the difficult, wonderful tasks before you.

Welcome to parenthood. Enjoy the ride!