Category: Being Dad

What Father’s Day Means To Me


A guest post from my hubby, Martin, today, on what this, his 3rd Father’s Day, means to him.

How Can Fathers Bond With Breastfed Babies?


It’s Father’s Day today, and also the start of National Breastfeeding Week, so I thought I’d combine the two and got Ameli’s Daddy – my husband Martin – to chip in with his thoughts on fatherhood, bonding and breastfeeding. ******************************* It’s about as helpless as I’ve ever felt as a parent. The situation goes something…

I Cannot Imagine Parenting Without…


The theme for this months’ carnival of natural parenting is “I cannot image parenting without…” At first I thought it was an easy answer, but a bit of investigating brought me to a totally different conclusion. Welcome to the February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Essentials This post was written for inclusion in the monthly…

Breastfeeding in Public: Through Daddy’s Eyes


Author: Martin So, breastfeeding. It occurs to me that a man writing about breastfeeding is probably either very brave or very stupid. Well, I don’t count myself to be unusually brave, so I’m hoping there’s an option C I’ve overlooked. As a new father I’ve been asked several times – invariably by women – for…

Flying Blind as a New Father


Author: Martin It’s probably fair to say that there are a lot of less than perfect fathers out there, but having been at the business myself for approaching a year now, there’s a part of me that sympathises. Now, that’s not to excuse bad parenting – absolutely not. What I mean is that there’s no…

Fatherhood: A Cautionary Tale


Author: Martin As any new parent will no doubt know, some things are exactly like you’ve been told, and some things very much aren’t. Take getting drooled on, for example. I expected this was something I would find a problem. But 10 months of getting drooled on regularly later, I can now report that I…

What message does this send our children?


Author: Martin To me, there are few places on this earth that so blatantly represent the very worst of naked consumerism than the modern toy store. Now I’m not talking about the family-run shop selling wooden toys and play things – those few that still survive,  anyway. I’m talking about the gleaming multi-coloured superstores with…

Dads, I’ve Got Two Words For You


Author: Martin Someone asked me recently what one single piece of advice I would give to fathers-to-be. Leaving aside my first answer, which was “don’t believe that there’s one single piece of advice that will solve all your problems”, I settled on a simple two-word answer: “be there”. Like most simple two-word answers, though, it…

Do Girls Really Need to be Daddy’s Princess?


I have a good father. I know that I am lucky. He was away a lot when I was a child, and I honestly don’t remember him being at too many school plays, (but that might just be the memory of a child) but he was there and he loved me. There have been five…

Homebirth – A man’s perspective


When our daughter was born, I asked my husband if he would write his version of the experience, so that I could know what it was like for him, and one day she could too. In our search for a homebirth, we became aware of the fact that there are endless stories by mothers, but…


When our daughter was born, I asked my husband if he would write his version of the experience, so that I could know what it was like for him, and one day she could too. In our search for a homebirth, we became aware of the fact that there are endless stories by mothers, but so few by fathers, and we thought that perhaps having a man’s perspective would help a father somewhere. So, go make a cup of tea, sit in a comfy spot, and take the time to read his story…

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