Be A Great Dad

Many Dads are scared to get involved with their kids. It probably starts early on in our parenting when we realise we just aren’t as well equipped as women for handling small children. There’s no pelvic shelf for parking an infant on while you’re walking around. There’s no built in lunch bar. When my wife sings lullabies, they’re soft and sweet; when I sing, it’s like someone’s started up a concrete mixer.

We men tend to be gritty, growly, hairy, scary, and not nearly as nice to snuggle into … we also appear to lack some of the parenting skills women seem to naturally know.  Men don’t come with the hardware or the software, so we back off and leave child-rearing to the apparent experts, that is, their Mums.  

But if we step back when our kids are babies, everyone loses. Don’t be shy! The secret of male-bonding with a baby is not to try to be another mother. Your child already has one of those, and what they really need is for you to be yourself.

If you’ve got a baby, learn to handle it. Babies are scary but relatively rugged – not as tough as a rugby ball, but not as fragile as a Flake bar. You should never shake a baby, but as long as you support your baby’s head, and don’t drop them you’re probably doing it okay. Handled with care, a baby should last a lifetime.

You may not have much time to get to the gym these days – but you’ve just acquired a new gym buddy and fabulous set of hand weights in one! Once your baby’s neck can support the weight of their head, try balancing them in your palms and then carefully curl him, bench him, or do sit ups together.

And don’t be scared of going into the realm of women. Do parent help at kindy. You may be the only man there but castrations by kindy teachers are still rare. In fact they will welcome you I am sure.

You are already Dad, you may as well be a great one.