#BTColumn – Fatherhood: Wayne Collymore-Taylor

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Jade Gibbons

Wayne Collymore-Taylor is a 65-year-old engineering assistant at the Barbados Water Authority. He works in the Drawing Office designing the water networks for both commercial and residential properties.

Originally an artist who focused on paintings,
Collymore-Taylor got into engineering after completing an Associate Degree in Building and Civil Engineering. While pursuing this degree, he was exposed to the drawing software Autocad and realised how his God-given talent for drawing could be used in the engineering field.

Having been born into a poor family, Collymore-Taylor highlighted that education was his tool for upward
social mobility.

“I’m still travelling,” he said. Collymore-Taylor has been married for over 30 years and has three children with his
wife Angela. He sees marriage as very important as it is “ordained by God.”

Collymore-Taylor ascribes to the Pentecostal denomination of Christianity. His understanding and appreciation for the role of a father in a child’s life comes from his experience with his own father Reverend Charles Taylor.

Collymore-Taylor has fond childhood memories of his father as he lived with him. In his words, his father was a “strict disciplinarian, he beat with a tamarind rod regular” and is “an excellent saxophone player.”

Collymore-Taylor highlighted the negative impact his father’s migration to Trinidad in the 1960s had on him as a youth. He had to live with his grandmother and went through a rebellious phase as a result. “I had backslid but one day I was listening to my father’s preaching programme on VOB and decided to get back on track.”

He was 33-years-old when his first child was born. He remembers being very excited about her arrival. The experience brought him closer to his wife and helped him become more responsible. “Qualities that were dormant in me came to the fore,” he said.

He also recounted the fears he had for his unborn child as even “a baby in the womb has their own cross to bear.” Despite the pregnancy challenges that arose, the support from his family and church helped him to remain calm and confident that his child would live. He also highlighted that the experience brought him closer to God as stepping into this new role with all of its stress and adversities showed him the importance of building and maintaining healthy relationships.

“I had to learn to listen to my wife and children because pride can easily step in.”

In speaking about his first impressions on entering fatherhood, Collymore-Taylor said it was “a total change. It made me a better person and produced the qualities that are characterised as manhood.”

Collymore-Taylor sees his role as a father as to instil qualities in his children that would make them likeable, loving and resilient people. Even though all of his children are well into adulthood, he still has dreams of helping them navigate life. He is particularly looking forward to guiding them through the process of getting their own homes as he believes his experience will be beneficial to them.

When asked of an achievement of one of his children that he is proud of, he highlighted the business of his second child Anika Collymore-Taylor.

“I have never really paid attention to her Instagram page but she had been given the opportunity by the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme to have a pop-up shop in Sky Mall. I saw the video of that and was like wow. I was proud of how she spoke and put forward herself and her products,” he said.

When asked what accountability and reliability meant for him, Collymore-Taylor said: “you are accountable to your wife and children to ensure they are safe and provided for. To ensure they have tools to weather the storms of life. The Bible is the blueprint that guides you.”

“Men like to be dismissive and not listen. God helped me to develop a better attitude. The Holy Spirit teaches you. Having a relationship with Christ is important. The greatest obstacle to growth and maturity is pride.  If you are finding it difficult to change and mature, you have a problem with pride. You need the Holy Spirit’s help. I would advocate for fathers to love God and to love your children. Love heals. Love comes through the expression of support- saying a nice word or helping with school work.”

Jade Gibbons is an arts and business graduate with a keen interest in social issues and film-making. See https://www.jadegibbons246.com