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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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. … [Read more...]
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. … [Read more...]
Shared parental leave: One dad shares his experience
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 … [Read more...]