Dad Blog UK
UK dad blog: Fatherhood, parenting, family and lifestyle.

Is it wrong to make children aware of your stress?

If there’s one thing guaranteed to make a parent feel stressed, it’s when their offspring accidentally hits another child on the head. This is exactly what happened at the swimming pool the other day when Izzy, my youngest daughter lost control of a ride-on toy boat she was using and, bump, collided with a small boy in the pool. As the responsible adult overseeing my child’s behaviour, I felt the need to apologise and give the boat to someone else, all the while my stress levels were going through the roof.

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Is it wrong to tell your child when they are making you feel stressed? Pic credit: Max van den Oetelaar on unsplash.

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How Shared Parental Leave benefited this mum and family

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). 

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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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My experience of fatherhood is different to most

I sometimes look at my life and have to remind myself my experience of fatherhood is very different to many other menfolk. Put bluntly, my existence has gone off in a completely different direction compared to my male peers who work full-time.

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The Dadindex Report: How dads spend their money and time

I have long been curious about the amount of purchasing power that dads have. How much do they spend on their kids and how much influence do they have on consumer purchases within the home? Conventional wisdom would suggest a dad’s influence was quite low but a new report called the Dadindex suggests otherwise.

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One of the key findings in the Dadindex: Dads spend £6,000 a year on activities with their children. This begs the question as to whether the marketing world recognises the strength of the Dad Pound?

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Dads Don’t Babysit, Towards Equal parenting: A good read?

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.

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Dads Don’t Babysit Towards Equal Parenting. Was I right to feel excited about this title?

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