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Parenting Is Amazing, But It Isn't Easy

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  My daughter is eleven months old today. She is the most amazing and brilliant thing I have ever helped to create. I’ve been asked a lot over the past eleven months what fatherhood is like. I don’t feel like I’ve ever responded appropriately, so I’m going to try and do that here. Image by skalekar1992 from  Pixabay For the longest time I was scared of having children. How could I possibly look after a child, when I’m barely able to look after myself? But one day something changed, and a pregnancy test was no longer a source of fear and anxiety, but one of hope and excitement. Becoming a father for me started at this moment. When I lost that fear and gained an anticipation.  Having a child holds up a mirror to your soul During the long nine months of pregnancy you do a lot of thinking. I would imagine what my child would be like. Which attributes that I see in myself and my wife would she inherit? How do we encourage the good things in us to naturally form in her? What changes do we n
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Five more things every father should do during pregnancy

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In my  previous article  I shared these five things that you can do to help your partner during pregnancy: Give a lot of compliments Give lots of massages Rub tummy butter on the bump Practice communicating Join a group Image credit:  Drew-Hays   on  Wunderstock  ( license ) Here are five more things to help your partner out: 1. Share in the restrictions I don’t know if you’ve ever tried giving up anything for a period of time. Every so often I try giving up sugar and it’s torture if you’re with someone who is eating your favourite snack. It makes it a lot easier if you’re doing it with someone though. I made the decision that I’d give up the things that my partner couldn’t have. I did pretty well at it too until we went out for a celebration meal and I accidentally ordered rare steak. My wife was very gracious about it though and definitely appreciated that I gave up alcohol and undercooked meat during the rest of the pregnancy. 2. Go for walks together It’s really helpful for the wom
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Five things every father should do during pregnancy

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During pregnancy a woman's body goes through a lot of changes. It can be uncomfortable, nauseating or even really painful for a lot of women. As a man, you may feel like there’s nothing you can do to help.  Free Images   by  Estupidaopiniosa  ( license ) Here are five things that my wife appreciated during her pregnancy: 1. Give a lot of compliments Your partners body is going to go through a lot of changes during pregnancy. She’s going to put on weight and probably feel self conscious about it. Try to make every effort to tell her how beautiful she looks and to celebrate her. I’m not great at giving compliments, I have a very “fix it” mentality, so I’ll comment when something needs to be changed, but if things are good I rarely will make comment of it. I’ve been trying to get better at this over the past few years, but it definitely requires effort! The funny thing is that your partner will look amazing to you as she grows your child. It sounds cliche, but (at least for my partner
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Six ways to improve your communication as a father

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Good communication is vital to any relationship, but during pregnancy and the first year of having a newborn, it is essential. You'll feel more tired and emotional than you ever have before. You'll be pushed to your limits, so you need to learn to communicate.  Image credit:  Joshua-Ness   on  Wunderstock   ( license ) Express your feelings "Men aren't supposed to show feelings" - this is utter garbage. We're emotional beings, and you have the same mood swings as your partner. Studies show that a mans hormones will actually follow a similar pattern to women. So that's one reason why you can be a little more irritable and cranky some days. You need to practice explaining how you're feeling, because it's something we're not good at.  I've had so many times where I've just told my wife "Somethings going on with me but I don't know what... I might be cranky with you". It's often hard to know what's wrong or what caused
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