Daddy Day Care: a book for new dads and curious mums
- File Size: 1860 KB
- Print Length: 200 pages
- Publication Date: January 29, 2018
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B079HFQT5C
Goodreads Description
Daddy Day Care: a book for new dads and curious mums lifts the lid on the hilarious, bewildering, joyful and maddening experience of being a stay at home dad with his baby daughter.
This fascinating read was the 2018 Award Winner - Best Parenting & Family - Pacific Book Review
My Thoughts
Years ago it was difficult to imagine dads staying home and caring for the family. However, it seems nowadays both parents share a larger responsibility in the nurturing of a child.
This fun book gives an honest account of what it is like to anticipate the birth of a child and take on the role of staying home on parental leave.
In this book, Jonathan lovingly calls his daughter Squeaky and admits this was the rollercoaster ride of parenting and most of the preparation was psychological.
Can you imagine being the only guy at the playground? This book will give you the look-see on how he handled the mum chat with the breast vs bottle debate among others.
This fun and informative book is illustrated with silly stick men and provides a look at a day in the life with practical insight on the exhausting undertaking of stay at home parenting. After all of this, one realizes, work should be a breeze
This book was generously provided by the author for an honest review
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview the author Jonathan Tindale about his process of parenting, creating this award-winning book and getting the insight that he offers parents as well as prospective parents.
Jonathan, how did you get the idea to write this book?
There’s an awful lot of books out there for mums, but not so much for dads. And I couldn’t find anything written by a full-time dad who had stayed home to bring up his baby, whilst the mum went back to work. So, I thought – I’ve written a book before (Squashed Possums – about living in a lone caravan in New Zealand) maybe I can write this book – something from a dads perspective, a bit funny (hopefully), a bit informative (but not bossy), and hopefully it might convince other chaps to stay home to spend more time with their little ones. Or at least the dads will read it and appreciate bringing up a baby at home isn’t all coffee mornings and cake!
What advice would you give to someone who is a prospective parent?
There’s so much advice about right parenting and wrong parenting, that I’m always a bit cautious about giving people advice. What works for one kid and one family might not work for another. But someone gave me good advice once, which I’m happy to share. And he told me “you’re never going to regret the time you spend with your kids” so grab as much of that time as you can, especially when they’re little. Because that old cliché about them growing up fast. It’s true. All true.
What do you think children need most from their parents today?
Your attention and your time. Love obviously, they need your love, but if you’re not about to demonstrate your love to them, then that raises all sorts of risks. Don’t feel guilty about dinking about on your phone sometimes when they’re playing but make sure you spend enough time with them in the here and now, without distraction. Kids don’t need expensive holidays, they’re just as happy booting a ball about or dancing to an old record.
How do you strike a balance between keeping a child safe and not overprotecting them?
Depends on the situation I think. I know some parents who covered the house in bubble wrap, whilst others appear to let their kids juggle sharp things in the kitchen. I would say, it’s about teaching them. If you drive them everywhere and carry them all the time, they’ll never learn how to cross the road safely.
When should parents get their child a smartphone and permit access to social media?
I’m going to hold out as long as possible, tell you what, ask me again in a year or two to see how that’s working out for us…
What part of this book was the hardest for you to write?
For me, finding the time to write is the hardest part – it’s a very time consuming, solitary pursuit which doesn’t fit well with being the parent of young children – but I write on the commute, sitting, or standing up on the London Underground with my tablet, and that gave me two hours writing a day – even though some of that time was wedged inside a strangers armpit
Do you write every day and do you get writer's block?
I’m not writing at the moment, but I do tend to write most days when I am working on a book. I tend to give myself a break between books. Daddy Day Care seemed to just flow without any problem and with little editing and was done in little more than 6 months. Squashed Possums went through several lengthy rewrites and took almost a decade to get right. I think having written two books now, I hope the next one will be a smoother journey. Hopefully.
Is there anything you'd like to tell readers?
Gosh, I’d like to thank everyone for buying my books – it’s such a privilege to write and have an audience. I enjoy it hugely and I’m very grateful.