Dad's Turn
  • Home
  • Becoming a Nordic Dad
  • Raising Little Bear
    • Latest posts
    • Little Personalities
    • Dads are parents too
    • During Parental Leave
    • Early days
    • Tips for parents
  • Supporting Shared Parenting
  • Contact

Mornings with your Little Troll

8/8/2018

20 Comments

 
Picture

‘I awake Pappa, Moomin’s awake, I awake, time to wake up, I awake Pappa’

The light starts getting too strong for the blackout blinds and Little Bear climbs into our bed and starts patting my head. I know that any movement will be an admission of being conscious, so I stay perfectly still, and naïvely believe that he will give up after a few minutes and let me go back to sleep. I slowly open one eye.

‘Now you awake Pappa! I awake! Weekabix! You awake Pappa! Mamma look! Pappa awake!’ and the wake up dance and jump on Pappa begins.
 
Getting out the door with a toddler is never easy. But when they’ve moved firmly into the ‘boundary testing stage’ at 2  and a half, it becomes all the more difficult.

Read More
20 Comments

Days at nursery: what do the toddlers get up to?

17/7/2017

19 Comments

 
Toddler baby Little Bear dad nursery Under1Roof SPL parental leave
Nursery is a bit of a blind spot for parents. We spend every day following these tiny people around, monitoring their every nap, meal and nappy change, and getting enrolled into each tower building session and every repeat of the Hungry Caterpillar. Then, suddenly, we delegate this all to someone else. It’s like going into heart surgery. You’re suddenly trusting someone else to look after something that’s really quite important to you, and you’re not able to watch what’s going on when you’re doing it. I want to know what’s going on during this blind-spot.


Read More
19 Comments

Working Dad II: Part-time parent

3/3/2017

14 Comments

 
toddler baby dad hardhat construction SPL parental leave part-time work cute
​A year ago last week, Little Bear and I went into shared parental leave together. 7 months, 2 new back-pains and a toddler later, I emerged from full-time care of my little troll. Going back to work was a culture shock. It’s like you’ve been on a fast and slightly dangerous roller-coaster, before stepping off and walking along the mundane pavement feeling giddy. For the first week at least, you feel a little shell shocked. Every few minutes or unusual noise in the office, you look around for your little guy in panic because you can’t see him, only to remember that it’s because he’s several kilometres away at nursery.

Read More
14 Comments

Working dad: whilst sharing parenting

11/6/2016

8 Comments

 
Working dad holding baby son boy after work before shared parental leave SPL
​My wife goes back to work on Tuesday and I'll start my turn on parental leave. So looking back, what’s it been like sharing parenting and working full-time? Over the last 5 months, we’ve been sharing parenting during the weekends and evenings, with her looking after the Little Bear full-time whilst I’m at work Monday to Thursday. It’s good to be reminded of what it feels like to be the more traditional working but active dad.

Three weeks after Little Bear arrived (probably the toughest life change to date), I went back to work. Travelling a lot with my job meant that a day after getting back to the office, I was on the plane to Vienna. ​ 
​I won’t lie, I was very excited about the prospect of my first full night sleep in a hotel, with no baby interruptions. Unfortunately, due to the psychological trauma we had faced over the last few weeks, I woke up every hour startled, looking for a crying Little Bear. I probably felt more exhausted when I got back to London than when I set out… Since then, each time I’m abroad for work, I’ve been faced with mixed feelings: I’ve enjoyed the break, but also really missed my buddies (baby and his mamma) back at home...

Read More
8 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    I'm Dave, dad of Little Bear. Also known as 'Pappa' to the little man as we try and bring out his Swedish roots

    My wife and I are sharing the troubles and joys of bringing up Little Bear equally. This is about my half of the time being responsible for not breaking the baby

    Follow @DadsTurnLB
      Enter your email address to be added to the list to receive notifications of new posts 
    Subscribe

    Categories

    All
    Accessories
    Baby Activities
    Baby Personality
    Bilingual Family
    During Parental Leave
    London
    Looking Back
    Nursery
    Parenting Challenges
    Pre Parental Leave
    Stereotypes
    Supporting SPL
    Tips
    Toddler Personality
    Toddlers
    Travel
    Working Dad

    RSS Feed

    3 Little Buttons
    Picture
    Picture
    Twin Mummy and Daddy
    Mission Mindfulness

Popular categories

Baby/Toddler personalities

Tips


Supporting parental leave

​​Looking back
​

Popular posts

Milestones you don't hear about

Expectations on dads

Win-Win-Win

​Bargaining with a toddler

Planning parental leave

Toddler adolescence (7 signs)

​Warning expectant parents

'Like' and 'Follow' us on
Facebook and Twitter

Facebook:
Twitter:
Follow @DadsTurnLB

Handles for both: @DadsTurnLB
© COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Becoming a Nordic Dad
  • Raising Little Bear
    • Latest posts
    • Little Personalities
    • Dads are parents too
    • During Parental Leave
    • Early days
    • Tips for parents
  • Supporting Shared Parenting
  • Contact