Yesterday I posted the infamous chair and this morning my amazing wife delivered our first child into the world.

Really I just wanted somewhere to say how incredibly happy and proud of my wife I am. Carrying our baby for months and delivering her in a healthy, and HEFTY state.

I cannot wait to see the girl she grows into, whilst doing my best to hang onto each and every moment with her. Looking forward to learning The Ways of The Dad.

Fellow dads, say hi to Zelda('s hand) <3

Hi fellow dads, 9 year lurker here. I’m not sure if I’m asking for advice or support. I was out with my kid (9, F) getting something from the grocery store. I was putting the shopping cart away.

I turned around when I heard her scream. It took me a second to figure out what was going on. A kid roughly her age and size was behind her. I then realized he had grabbed her by the shoulder/neck and hair. My daughter was crying and in pain. He wasn’t letting go. The other kid’s parents were telling their kid to let go, as far as I recall. When I yelled at him to let go of her, they started yelling at me that their kid is autistic. They got his hand away. I hugged my daughter because my concern in that moment was whether she was okay, and talked her through some breathing. She was sobbing and terrified.

The couple and their kid bolted to their car while I held my daughter. We went to our car, and I explained to her that it’s not the kid’s fault and also that it’s not hers, that the parents should’ve made sure their child isn’t hurting other people especially if they’re taking him to crowded places. She’s really anxious about going out. That whole experience was really scary for her, also because it was so random. He had yanked some of her hair and she has red marks on her shoulder and neck. She’s also upset that the adults ran off as if they were just trying to not get in trouble instead of waiting while holding him back for a minute, so they could apologize or check on the person their kid had just attacked. I feel like I failed her. I don’t know what else I could’ve or should’ve done. It’s been replaying in my head all day.

My son was adamant on being Thor, so I joined him. My sister was awesome and printed him a helmet, Mjolnir and my Stormbreaker. First Trunk or Treats for this year!

Trying everything to make the toilet and potty interesting but there is not a lot going on on the poop front with my 2,5 year old. Any tips?

And here I am waiting for updates, uuuuuuggghhh.

Wife is 18 weeks pregnant with our 1st. We are Jewish, and Flyers fans. After 10 games, the Flyers finally won their first of the season, so a friend texted, “We should say the Shehecheyanu!” (A prayer when someone has gotten to a big occasion) I replied, “The She-hockey-anu, if you will”.

Do the white New Balances just spawn onto my feet one day?

EDIT: Dammit, 18 WEEKS, not MONTHS. A Flyers win is so exhilarating that I clearly mistyped

I love my dad very much and he loves his grandchildren but I dont want them to see him drinking. For that reason I dont want them to visit him but I dont know how to best break that news to him.

I have given up on trying to make him quit, he has made his choice and it is slowly killing him. When he visits us he can manage to not drink for a couple of hours and he is more then welcome then but when we are at his place the temptation becomes to much and I dont want my children to see him that way.

He keeps asking when we will visit him next time and I am running out of credible excuses and I dont know how I will tell him without threatening our relationship.

I dont expect anyone here to be able to offer a perfect solution I just dont know anyone else to ask (that is a seperate problem)

Any advice is appreciated.

May be one soon...

Edit: Really appreciate all the imsigjtful commnets! So much great content. Thank you so much!

I dropped a book on my 4 month olds head and feel abysmal.

Work as a chef, my restaurant is going through a lot of upheaval without front of house management so as part owner, a lot is falling on my shoulders right now. Ive been working 6 day weeks for 18 months and doing my best to support my partner who is being a rock. She provides so much support and love to me and our kid.

I had a tough shift yesterday - a lot of brunch covers and an awful lot of mistakes from FoH including allergen mistakes. Im trying to train staff on the job alongside cooking, cleaning, staying on top of paperwork.

As part of bedtime routine, I read my daughter a book. Last night was The Tiger Who Came To Tea. In my exhaustion, I dropped the book on her head and she cried immediately. I cuddled her and comforted her as best as I could but there is a small graze on her forehead where it fell. I feel utterly awful - work is effecting my ability to parent and be present. I know shes ok, she fed as normal and no warning signs are apparent. I just feel absolutely fucking horrible.

My first little dude is due in early December. I’ve never been a handyman, but I’m putting every ounce of energy and thought toward getting his nursery ready.

The wife and I removed all the trim and started mudding to remove texture a month ago, and it just sat for so long. I was feeling really anxious about it and it’s been consuming my whole life.

My FIL visited today and we worked from sun up until 7 PM to veneer, trim, and board & batten the whole room. All that’s left is to caulk, prime, and paint.

I just needed to share with a community that’s always been supportive. I feel like I’m ready for this guy to come in 6 weeks!

Hey everyone,

My current paternity leave is only 2 weeks paid, so I’m considering taking FMLA to have more time at home with the baby.

I did this with my firstborn and honestly don’t regret it at all. Having that extra time with my family was worth it, but now that I’m doing it a second time, I’m feeling a little anxious about it.

For those of you who have taken FMLA as part of your paternity leave, is this pretty normal? Did you feel nervous about taking the additional time off, especially when it came to work or finances?

I know spending time with my family is important, and I don’t want to look back and wish I had taken more time. I guess I’m just looking for some reassurance and hearing about other people’s experiences.

Would love to hear how you handled it!

Wash Your Body for bath time, to the tune of Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body.

What else would be fun and useful?

So I’m a tall guy, 6’5, and my little ones (5 and 3 boys) are both eye level with my nuts. Me getting hit is such a common occurrence that my oldest, who is in kindergarten, drew a picture at school of daddy on the ground after being hit in the balls.

At this point, I don’t know if the vasectomy worked or I have so much trauma they don’t produce anymore.

The boys love corn hole so today I built them a corn hole set. Not even 5 minutes into playing, my youngest goes to throw the bean bag - it slips out his hand during the wind up - right into the ol’ family jewels. Everyone laughs. I’m laying on the ground ready to vomit.

This feels like a never ending episode of Jackass.

It might be time to just start wearing a cup around the house.

Hi everyone, I'll be starting a new job next month when my child will be around 4 months old. It'll be a lot better as I'm commuting c. 360 miles a week in my current one and that will drop to 60 in the new one.

However I'm already exhausted from the sleep deprivation and feeling quite anxious about starting a new job feeling this tired. Did anybody start a new job with a young baby and any advice you can share please?

Thanks!

I’d like to build a model engine with my little girl.
When I was a kid, my uncle gave my brother and I a couple burned out lawn mower engines to take down and learn from- super educational. Has anyone found a nice model engine kit, something that you can actually fuel and run, that you can assemble with your kids? Bunch of them on Amazon, curious is anyone has enjoyed any particular kit. Thank you gentlemen.

Hey guys. I have 2 daughters and an incredible wife. But man lately life has been hard mostly with my 3 year old. She refuses to poop in the potty to the extent of holding it. This stresses my wife out more than me and when she is stressed it stresses me out oddly enough. This leads to me being mostly short with everyone. But anyways my toddler of 3 is also have huge emotions and constant meltdowns. I have lost my cool more than once and I feel like a terrible person after. I dont know how other fathers do I. I try to breathe and stay calm but she just won't stop screaming and crying and I dont want her to learn anger from me you know. I guess im just looking to make sure im not just a terrible father. Doing my best out here and wanted to see if you guys had any advice.

Hello again!

Holy crap this space is a trove of wisdom. Appreciate the practical advice sharing and emotional support.

I mentioned on a different thread that I am 82 tasks deep on a google sheet. Some are needs-to-happen, some are wants-to-happen, some are probably-never-going-to-happen. While they are categorized by...priority, effort, category etc, I need something more robust with family and calendar syncing capacity.

Why did I mention emotional support? Well, more and more, I am finding that my mental wellbeing has been correlating with getting shit done. It's odd since I'm not particularly type A and I don't (think I) have this need to be productive. And at the same time, I am feeling this mental burden of there being just too much to do (needs and wants) and not nearly enough time.

To be clear, I freaking love my family and my job (the latter is almost wilder.) I think my goal here is to organize, prioritize, and make progress so that the time spent on family and work is not shaded by the anxiety of what I'm not doing.

So anyway...My ideal would be a system that 2-way (busy) syncs for both of our work calendars (google) with a personal calendar (I know the google Family suite makes this hard) and integrates with tasks (fixed and recurring) in a way that blocks the calendar for getting particular things done.

I don't love the idea of getting all set up on a subscription model unless it's perfect and other approaches seem to be like, merging the free version of 3 different platforms (Calendar, Todoist, reclaim, Morgen....all that.)

I know this won't resolve the feelings issue (big fan of therapy) but feels like a good step nonetheless.

Thanks for listening and adding any thoughts.

My very crafty daughter has overrun the dining room with her craft sets that she uses daily.

four weeks in with my 12 year old. i get a wave at the door and "it was fine" in the car

not trying to read his diary. i just dont know if im meant to be doing something between sessions or if my job is to drive and keep quiet

its through emora health, all over video, kids and teens only, if that changes the answer. we looked at little otter too

is there normally a parent check in or do you have to ask

My 9-year-old son has a habit of chewing on things, especially shirt collars, backpack straps, pillows, and blankets. Is a 2E kid with the ADHD diagnosis and meds.

Maybe once a week, he’ll come home from school with a wet shirt collar from chewing on it. If we’re watching a movie, he might end up with his shirt absolutely drenched. The backpack strap chewing is also getting pretty gross, especially in airports.

I haven’t noticed any obvious signs of anxiety, and he doesn’t have an anxiety diagnosis, so I’m not sure what’s driving it. Is this a sensory-seeking thing, a self-regulation habit, or something else?

What actually helped your kid stop chewing on their clothes and other random objects?

Did chew necklaces, other sensory tools, or occupational therapy help?
Did the habit improve with age, or did you need to actively work on it?
I don’t want to shame him for something he may not even realize he’a doing. I’d just love to find a way to help him meet whatever need is behind it without destroying every shirt and backpack strap he owns, and avoid the other kids finding it gross.

Would appreciate any advice or experiences from other parents!

At what age did you start? And what kind of chores? And what frequency?

I grew up in a culture that doesn’t have chores for children. We were given responsibilities and autonomy at an early age, but chores is a foreign concept for me.

We give the older one (6f) chores from time to time, like picking up toys. Although most things you would consider chores, like tidying up her room, she does on her own. Does that still count as a chore? Or are chores supposed to teach them to do things they don’t want/like to do?

And I have noticed that when she is asked to do chores like a toy pick-up, she is treating her 2 year old sister not so good. Likely because we ask her to pick up her toys not so nicely. How do you communicate the chores? And do they offer a payout?

Hello, Dads! Just welcomed baby number two and the wife has greenlit the vasectomy. Those of you who have had them, any advice? And those of you around Charlotte NC, any doctors you would recommend? That's really the whole post, thanks!

I’ll be running my local Halloween 5k with my little one in the stroller. He’ll be doing the kids fun run after.

I’m trying to think of an easy or cheap paired costume to wear for the event. Current things we’re considering include Tony Soprano and a Duck or Forest Gump and Lt. Dan.

We’re going to be Busytown characters for trick or treating but I don’t think the tyrolean hat will be very comfortable to run in.

Any suggestions?