As a first time mum I’m sure I’m making loads of mistakes, but there is one thing that I think I got right! I gave my husband the opportunity to find his own feet. I had to go through a huge learning curve and there was the danger of me swooping in and elbowing him to the side as ‘mummy knows best’ (not an expression I’ve ever used)
This wasn’t an altruistic act, but in fact very selfish: the more confident he became with looking after Madame the more freedom I could have. I can go out with my mates if I want, he takes her cycling on a Saturday morning so I get some ‘me’ time and I can go away for a weekend and not worry, which will come in handy when I’m away in June for the Gower Challenge.
This didn’t happen immediately and took me awhile to figure it out. I had to teach myself that he does things ‘differently’ not ‘wrong’. A mantra I have to repeat to myself often. Yes, he dresses her in ghastly outfits; he can’t predict dangerous situations and feeds her crap.
We’ve had a discussion about the clothes; I’ve given him one simple rule: you can either have patterns on the top or the bottom not both! I stop myself from even thinking about the dangers as I know he loves her dearly and will do his best to keep her safe. And for bacon sandwiches, it’s not going to kill her and she’s spending quality time with daddy.
I know I give him a lot of grief, but he really is a brilliant dad and I’m very lucky. Shh! Don’t tell him I said that.
I came across these images when writing this post and they had me in stitches. They originally came from David and Kelly’s Safe Baby Handling Tips, which can be purchased from Amazon.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp5ViGE7p_I]
He’s not going to need a Valentine Card now – great multi-tasking!
Oh, very good point…hadn’t thought of that and I haven’t bought a card!
I’ve done the same & my husband has brilliant relationships with our kids. We do things differently & I regularly have to bite my tongue but I love it that he’s a hands on Dad.
Many of my friends correct their husbands all the time and are then surprised when they’re not helping out.
Different definitely isn’t wrong and us Mums need to give all the Dads a chance! :-)
I'm always biting my tongue…rolling my eyes and doing my best not to tut!
Thankyou for giving me a giggle when I was actually having a bit of a dodgy moment! My hubby is a stay at home dad so he definitely is very comfortable looking after the little one.
My pleasure…we did have a slight advantage as I went back to work at 6 weeks and he did have to look after her.
its great when you can get a bit of alone time and know they are well looked after, and great for the kids to have some good daddy time too.
those pictures were great!
I’m having some ‘me’ time right now and loving it!
I can completely relate to this. I used to have to bite my tongue when I watched M trying to settle Little Legs and like you I had to learn to appreciate that just because it wasn’t the way I did it, didn’t mean it was wrong. The dressing bit I still can’t forgive though..I mean socks over tights over pink stripy pants….come one!
I'm convinced my husband must be colour blind!
Love the images. I think a lot of mums do this. I know I do it and have had to stop myself many times before I undermine my husband.
CJ xx
It's so hard to bite my tongue and to be honest I don't always do.