Starting a family while broke, how to navigate divorce with young kids | Buster Benson (father of 2, PM at Medium, Author, Founder)

Startup Dad

Buster Benson is Principle Product Manager at Medium, the platform creating a new model for digital publishing. He a published author of the book Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreements, the founder of 750Words, and most importantly the father of two boys. In this episode we discuss:

• Joining and leaving companies in pursuit of being a better father
• Starting a family while being broke with no insurance
• Home birthing
• Having a kid who doesn't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time
• Separation and divorce
• How to talk to your kids about divorce
• Maintaining an amicable relationship with your ex and connection to your kids

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Where to find Buster Benson:

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buster

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/busterbenson/

- 750 Words: https://750words.com/

- Amazon: Why Are We Yelling?

Where to find Adam Fishman:

- Newsletter: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fishmanaf

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In this episode, we cover:

[1:26] Introduction

[2:30] Background

[6:22] Decision to start a family

[7:49] Homebirth

[9:28] Homebirth community

[11:06] About Buster’s kids

[12:47] Why parenting is hard

[14:40] Buster’s earliest fatherhood memories

[17:53] Surprising fatherhood things

[19:45] External pressure

[21:45] Frameworks for parenting

[24:14] ADHD/Diagnosis

[25:13] The story of his separation and divorce

[28:43] Telling the kids about their separation

[31:04] Advice for separation

[34:46] Agreements in parenting

[36:42] Managing complex demands

[39:46] Mistakes in fatherhood

[43:33] Rapid fire round

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Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/

Episode art designed by Matt Sutherland at https://www.mspnw.com/