I love being a dad, it absolutely rocks. If you’d have asked me what it was like being a dad about 8-9 months ago you’d have got a very different answer to the one you’d get today.
You see I struggled big time when I became a dad, for lots of different reasons.
Becoming a dad changed so many things, not least the relationship between my wife and myself. When people tell you that becoming a parent changes you, I for one didn’t really believe them. I was so very very wrong.
It took me a while to get my head round being a dad, I put myself under a lot of pressure to be the perfect dad, to come home from a day at work and sweep my baby girl into my arms and want to spend every waking second with her. It didn’t quite work out like that.
A lot of people told me not to worry about it and that dads came into their own as their children got older. I didn’t really think that was true, I wanted to be the perfect dad straight away.
Truth is, for me at least I found the newborn to about a year old part really quite boring. It might have just been because we were new parents but our lives seemed to revolve around feeds/sleeps and nappy changes.
As my daughter has got older, it’s got much easier and dare I say it a lot more fun. We’ve recently had snow and had a great time taking her out on a sledge and whizzing down the hill next to where we live. I remember thinking ‘This is what being a dad is about’
My daughter is now 21 months old, running around, nearly talking (she’s not going to shut up when she does finally start) and into everything. Learning so much she is like sponge. This is what I am finding really cool, being able to show her stuff and her learning and repeating it.
You get so much more back from them as they get older. They start to know who you are and react to you in a different way. They people little people in their own rights and that really is the cool part.
I love nothing better than coming home from work and my daughter running down the hall to grab my hand and leading me to whatever it is she is doing before I have even had a chance to take my coat off, it’s be best feeling in the world.
Being a dad isn’t easy, and if you’re a new dad, do me a favour and give yourself a break. If you’re struggling to get your head round it don’t worry, it will click into place and one day you’ll realize that being a dad really does rock.
