Heinz - Tinytums

Dad's story

They Start getting a taste of independence and everything starts happening then.
James, 31, says it all starts happening from about six months onwards.

“My Dad always told me that babies don’t do anything interesting until they’re about six months old and then you can get involved as a dad. Now, he might have been a little bit tongue in cheek there, they’re kind of fun before that too! But the general point is I think that from about five or six months on they start getting a taste of independence and everything starts happening then. It’s like there’s something new every month. First they roll over for the first time, then you’re into feeding them proper food, not just milk, after that they’re sitting up by themselves, then pulling themselves around and eventually walking and saying their first words. 

“It’s a really exciting time and when you’re out at work every day you’ve really got to pay attention or you miss it, because it just goes by in a flash.  I mean, I’d be out of the house by eight every morning, so there’d be an hour or two (if we were unlucky) to spend with her in the morning, then I’d get home for about half six-ish and see her again for an hour before she fell asleep. You’ve got to grab the opportunities at the weekends and in these times or you turn around and she’ll be off out playing on her bike or something and you’ll be like ‘when did she grow up?"

When you're tired it's easy to see things like changing nappies, feeding, getting up with them and all that as a bit of a chore.
“But if you do manage to pay a bit of attention it’s a really cool age to be a Dad. When you’re tired it’s easy to see things like changing nappies, feeding, getting up with them and all that as a bit of a chore, but the trick is to enjoy it. Actively try and do all that stuff all the time with them because that’s how you bond as a Dad. I certainly didn’t want to be one of those Dads who just breezes in at teatime and who hardly knows their kids.

“You’ve got to get into the whole Dad thing. Doing the aeroplane noises when you’re feeding them and all that, it’s good fun. Feeding’s a really good one to do with them because you have to talk to them all the time and you’ve got something to focus on. So there’s loads of smiles and eye contact and talking and touching at feeding time, it’s good. You’ve just got to remember to change out of your suit when you get home so you don’t get it covered in potatoes every night!”