Pregnancy, birth & toddlers
Articles about pregnancy and birth from the father’s perspective. Here you’ll find articles about inducing labour, what to expect in the delivery room and why dad should be in the delivery room. There are also a range of articles looking at toddlers and the early years of a child’s life (which I have classed as zero to four years of age).
There’s no doubt in my mind the UK’s Shared Parental Leave (SPL) system could be improved. Nonetheless, for some couples it works very well.
Earlier this summer I published this article, written by dad Hamish Reid. He had taken SPL previously and with his wife expecting another child, was gearing up to go on leave again. It was enlightening hearing about Hamish’s positive experiences, but what of his wife Vanessa? I asked if she would be kind enough to write something explaining what she thought of having Hamish around in the early months following the birth of their latest addition. Here’s what Vanessa had to say (and please do also read this article from Nicola Gilroy who explains how SPL benefited her family).
Vanessa and Hamish Reid with two of their three kids. In this article, Vanessa explains how her family has benefited from Hamish taking Shared Parental Leave.
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Every now and again, someone produces a book about fatherhood and parenting that genuinely gets me excited. Dads Don’t Babysit Towards Equal parenting, the work of writing duo and fathers David Freed and James Millar is one such title.
Dads Don’t Babysit Towards Equal Parenting. Was I right to feel excited about this title?
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Just a few short months ago, it all looked so promising. In a very high-profile move, a powerful group of MPs had called for radical workplace reform following a review of working practices and how they impact on fathers.
It would be nice to see more of this. Alas, it won’t be happening in the near future.
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I’ve written a huge amount about shared parental leave over the years. I had long planned to ask someone to write something for me about their experience of taking the leave. As luck would have it, I was contacted out of the blue by Hamish Reid who works for Accenture.
Hamish is about to go on shared parental leave for the second time. He wrote the article below in which he admits he had concerns about the impact on his career, goes on to say that being a stay at home dad for five months was very demanding but says attitudes to SPL are changing for the better. Here’s what he had to say.
Hamish Reid, who is shortly to take shared parental leave for a second time, talks about his experiences of taking time out of the workplace and hopes for baby No3.
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You know how your child can say something, something very innocent that forces you stop and re-evaluate your approach to parenting? Well, 10 out of 10 Izzy Adams because that’s what you’ve just done.
A passing comment about love made me realise that second child syndrome is something we need to address in this household.
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