“The Dad Is Not A Person; It’s A Lifestyle”: 50 Pics That Scream Dad Energy, Shared By Facebook Page
Nothing changes a man's life like becoming a father. Being entrusted with the responsibility and care of another person is a huge task.
You need to help your child's development, which includes playing, being a good role model, and being warm, loving, and engaged.
But all of this effort is insanely rewarding. Not only do you see your kid grow into an adult but you also get an automatic pass to make all the dad jokes you want.
But don't just take my word for it. There's an online project called The Dad and it's dedicated to illuminating this joyful journey. One of the ways it does that is by tweeting and retweeting spot-on takes on family life and parenting.
More info: thedad.com | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
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We managed to get in touch with Joel Willis, the founder and executive editor for The Dad, and he was kind enough to have a little chat with us about his own parenting journey.
"As a parent, the only thing you can be certain of is that you will be constantly surprised by what happens. What To Expect When Expecting should just say 'Who knows? But you'll figure it out, probably,'" Willis told Bored Panda.
Every kid, family, and the experiences they share are so different, and Willis thinks it's precisely the reason why raising a child is the best challenge you can have. "Every day is a clean slate full of endless possibilities for tragedy and triumph."
"Parents should keep that in mind, and not be too rigid about what they expect to happen or how they think their kid must behave," he said. "Go with the flow and embrace the craziness. If everything went as planned, wouldn't that be boring? I'm seriously asking, wouldn't it? Please let me know. I have no idea because nothing in my life has gone as planned since my first kid was born 12 years ago."
"While every journey is different, all parents are on the same unpredictable rollercoaster. That's why The Dad content resonates with so many, because we get to laugh at the shared absurdity of it all," the man added.
Going through these tweets, the idea that a man can possess parenting instincts and is not just suited to be a provider or a hapless sidekick looks natural, but it is actually relatively new. Just a few generations ago, it was highly controversial. In the '70s, for example, the expectation that men should do more was picking up steam, but they were still considered a poor substitute for moms.
"[The mid-'70s] was the heyday of attachment theory, which, as it was incarnated then, was very much focused on the critical importance of the attachment between an infant and its mother in the first years of life," Michael Lamb, who became a forerunner of fatherhood research at the time and continues to study it at the University of Cambridge in the UK, told Today's Parent. "That went along with the assumption that it was the only [primary] relationship kids could form."
But at the turn of this century, researchers discovered an incredible detail about men: our bodies transform when we become fathers. Turns out, our hormonal systems alter dramatically when we become parents. And it doesn't matter if we're talking biological dads or adoptive ones, heterosexual or queer, the same applies for everyone.
This amazing revelation basically implies that despite the narrow role fathers have put themselves into for so long, our internal chemistry may have always been nudging us toward more involvement.
We know that oxytocin (the love hormone) plays a role in a mother's initial bonding with her child after birth but researchers have observed that the same spike in oxytocin occurs when fathers hold and play with their newborns too.
I was about 5 - so, 1960 - when I asked my mom what it was like to ride in a covered wagon.
When that love drug floods a new father, his testosterone level typically drops, making him less likely to take risks and more able to nurture his newborn. Furthermore, he registers an increase in prolactin, which is a hormone best known for helping women produce breastmilk.
University of Notre Dame anthropologist Lee Gettler explained that the presence of prolactin goes back hundreds of millions of years to our animal ancestors, even before mammals (and breastfeeding) existed. Over the past decade, Gettler has determined the connection between the hormone and modern-day dads. "Fathers with higher prolactin play with their babies in ways that are beneficial for their babies' learning and exploration, and the fathers also seem to be more responsive and sensitive to infant cries," he said. This ancient hormone increases a dad's desire to be close to their little one!
That should come as a relief to those men who are worried about becoming a father. If you put in the time and effort, you're going to be fine. You're a natural!
The householder described the decision to disconnect his electricity on aesthetic grounds as "blatantly unconstitutional"
"Don't try to be perfect," Joel Willis of The Dad said. "There's no such thing as a perfect parent. We all make mistakes. Our kids will grow into adults, and even if they're happy and successful and independent, they'll certainly resent us for something. I tell my kids this sometimes and you know what? The thing they'll resent me for is probably telling them they're going to resent me for something someday."
Willis divides parenting mistakes into big and small. According to him, if you try to avoid the big ones as best you can and don't worry about the small ones, you should be fine. "They build character," he said.
For more similar content, follow The Dad using the links in the introduction. "I just want to mention that while I am the founder and editor-in-chief, The Dad is made up of a team of talented, creative, hilarious folks who create the best parenting content on the web, day after day," Willis added. "They are the best."
Set him straight or he'll never have a profitable career in insurance fraud
And if there's a world record for fastest time to fully unclothe yourself, a toddler that can barely crawl will shatter it.
Even worse: "This idiot once got so drunk he kissed the maid of honor"
My husband on 1st January: Hey, we have to go for a run, because the previous run we did was last year...(yesterday)
Honestly I quite often feel like a last-century kind of dinosaur, and I'm not even 40
And this is why some people think f***y packs are cool...never mind how old the picture is.
Increasing the costs of our weekly grocery shopping with at least €100 is why I got to stay at home.
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a device was in use, not even the mouse. The phones were all hung up with chargers galore, while a 3d printed wreath was displayed on the door.
My FIL used to snap his fingers before sneezing because he sneezed to loud. I jumped so high the first time I heard him sneeze because they forgot to warm me.
.... and then wake up early for work for another 50 years... and then when you are retired and don't need to wake up early any more, you can't sleep any more and still wake up early!
Absolutely! I always went for stuff that made an awful lot of noise and ate batteries like crazy
I've reached an age when a pair of spectacularly destroyed jeans brings back memories of the Unabomber's attire when he was arrested
You also don't have to worry about getting pairs of hideous socks and cheap undrinkable whiskey.
I have become stronger than ever after turning 30, as all kinds of workout (gym and work) really started to show results. That was 15 years ago an I can still lift and move my washing machine on my own.
??? No you don’t. You get up early with the youngest, stay up until almost midnight just to get a chance to watch something you don’t want your teenager to see. And then when they get a bit older you get up early to drink coffee in peace and stay up late to make sure they get home ok. Once you have kids you never sleep enough again...
As a husband you never say that you've got nothing to do if you value having nothing to do.
Whenever someone asks me where something is, I always hit them with the "Up your ass & to the left."
Our daughter went through her Beiber phase around 12 and it drove her nuts every time I said Justin beaver or believer
I hate to say this but what is Napster. I understand the rest of it at least.
As a property manager I saw the result of many try it yourself incidents lol
I just have to admit, there's a part of me that has loved waking the teenagers up for school in the morning... My kids have been woken up to bad drawings with me saying "hey- look at what I drew for you" laughing and running away, me staring at them creepily tugging gently on their hair, tickling... Oh you name it- if they did it to me they got it back in their teens. My son is grown but my daughter still has a few years 🤣
We just got a glass of Sprite mixed with gin. Because it's not healthy to eat just before you're going to bed.
“It’s called hentai, and its art” probably the best line from the office
I think that was for a scene in “Underground six” on Netflix. It’s basically a rated R fast and furious
Since there are millions of people who have never put up a shelf, you've accomplished more than all of them.