papas

[/caption] Here's a shout out to all the papas. Here, here for Papas.

There is a saying: always the bridesmaid never the bride, well in the early years of a kid's life a papa is kind of like a bridesmaid. He can be the best papa that ever lived, but at the end of the day, he isn't the mama. He's not the birth giver, he isn't the nurser.

What most new dad's don't realize is that after the baby is born he will be asked to keep doing what he was already doing (often working a lot) and then do more (like washing dishes more often, doing more laundry, more shopping) and then on top of that, have less (time with his beautiful partner, less of her attention). It can be kind of tricky.

There are the sweet times when baby sleeps on papa's big warm chest, or rides on his tall shoulders, or falls into giggle fits when he kisses her tummy. But sometimes being a good papa means passing the crying child that just scraped her knee to the mama, because despite papa's sincere concern and care, that's what the child wants. And that's hard.

It takes a big man to be a papa.

Comments

[Romy]

Aww....that is the most beautiful photo, and underneath, such nice words. Very true.

[scasey67]

Wow. This is probably the best thing I have read about fathering.

[jessica]

so happy to have come upon your blog and products tonight (found you through soulemama/indiefixx.) everything i've read here is encouraging and insightful, and comes at a perfect time as we are parenting our 2.5 yr son. after a tough parenting day today, your blog hit the spot. thanks so much! and this papa post will be passed on to my husband asap.

[njoyinghim4vr]

Very true, only REAL men can be Papas!

[Lynn]

Well said. Beautiful.

Found your site and your product this early a.m. and am very excited to pass the info. on to one of my friends. She teaches early education and is always trying to find ways to teach about emotions. This is perfect!

Thank you!

[TryingHard]

That is just so beautiful and eloquent.

My comment will mostly echo jessica's (above). I'm so happy to have found your blog (courtesy of Playful Learning). I feel my 3yr son is getting a raw deal all the time at the moment. He's stuck in the middle, between a "perfect" older sister and a cute baby brother. It breaks my heart to think of the number of times I've seen his face fall at the choice of words we direct at him. Blogs like yours is a helpful reminder that there are more loving ways to teach. Thank you!

[Isha]

I second what the other two said!

Am sending this one on to the hubby and following your wonderful blog.

[niki]

grateful to have found your blog, lovely true words which all papas should here, we love them and are grateful for them every day. couldn't have said it better.
peace

[kris laroche]

Hi Niki: Your blog is beautiful! Such lovely photos and knitting. Fun fun. Thanks for visiting us and allowing us to meet you. Warmly kris

kris laroche a better world begins at home

www.naturalparentingcenter.com www.feeleez.com

[Sarah]

I've been loving this blog and then saw this entry -- a link from the In A Nutshell Entry. So much compassion and wisdom here, and it also deeply saddens me to see that juxtaposed with the casual, tossed-off, normative heterosexism of "Appreciate your man." Bummer. My amazing WOMAN and I are co-parenting beautiful and while I, as a birth-mom, probably do need to be reminded to appreciate her more, hearing it in this package of stereotypical (especially for the "attachment parenting" movement) homophobic assumptions did not feel compassionate, empathetic, or even like a helpful reminder. It felt more like a cold, hard slap.

[Natalie]

Sarah-
You're absolutely right. "Appreciate your man" definitely does *not* include all of the versions of parents AT ALL. Totally caught up in my own hetero world here, tossing out generic phrases like everyone's family is the same as mine. My apologies. Point very well taken.